Anker’s solar umbrella uses next-gen perovskite cells to keep a longer charge

You’ve seen EcoFlow’s hat with integrated solar panels — now meet Anker’s more practical Solix Solar Beach Umbrella, fitted with a new generation of perovskite solar cells. It can produce up to 100W of total output from XT-60 and USB-C connections, which could keep Anker’s new battery-powered Solix EverFrost 2 Electric Cooler running indefinitely in sunny environments.

Perovskite is a new type of solar cell that can outperform the silicon-based cells found in most of today’s solar panels in almost every way. Anker claims its perovskite cells offer “30 percent better performance than crystalline silicon solar cells in bright light, and double the efficiency in low light.”

The silicon-based solar cells shipping today in consumer panels currently max out at around 24 percent efficiency, with a theoretical efficiency near 30 percent. Solar panels that layer a perovskite film on top of a silicon base can absorb even more light — perovskite cells can be optimized at the blue end of the light spectrum while silicon cells harvest energy on the red end — to reach solar conversion efficiencies of up to 43 percent. That’s a step change in how we harvest energy from the sun. Notably, perovskite can be made from low-cost materials that are widely available.

Image: Anker

A UK-based company called Oxford PV announced in September that it had already started the “world’s first” commercial sales of solar panels using perovskite-on-silicon cells, boasting a 24.5 percent efficiency, with improvements on the horizon.

Unfortunately, Anker isn’t offering any details on the origins of its “perovskite solar cells,” despite us reaching out with questions. That leaves a lot of unknowns around things like conversion efficiencies and life expectancy — the latter being a historical problem for perovskite. We also don’t know the weight of the umbrella. We do know that the folding Solix Solar Beach Umbrella stands just over seven feet (215cm) tall with a six-foot, two-inch (190cm) diameter. It also has an IP67 rating, so it should hold up to blowing sand and rain.

There’s still time for Anker to answer our questions, since the solar umbrella won’t ship before summer 2025 for an undetermined price.

We know a lot more about Anker’s new Solix EverFrost 2 Electric Cooler, available in 23L, 40L, and 58L models. The rugged (IPX3) unit features six-inch wheels — large enough to roll over semi-rough terrain (small stones and rough gravel) — and a fold-down tray that can also be used as a handle. However, only the 58L model includes two independent compartments to create a dual-zone fridge and freezer.

Anker claims it’s the first from this class of portable fridges to use air-cooled refrigeration instead of direct cooling. That will likely make it noisier and less power-efficient than competing models from EcoFlow and Bluetti, while having the advantage of improved temperature uniformity, faster cooldown, and no need to manually defrost the thing.

The Solix EverFrost 2 can provide up to 104 hours of cooling from a pair of detachable 288Wh LFP batteries — and half that with a single battery. The batteries can also be removed to function as power banks, with 60W USB-C and 12W USB-A jacks to charge your gadgets. The batteries can be charged off 100W of solar input, a 12V car socket, an AC wall jack, or USB-C connection.

Prices are set at $699 (23L), $749 (40L), and $999 (58L), with preorders for the 40L and 58L models starting on February 21st before shipping a few weeks later. The tiny 23L model is slated to launch in Q2.