Almost four years to the day after Apple killed its beleaguered AirPower charging mat without every releasing it, Tesla has launched its own very similar multi-device charging station. And it works.
Simply dubbed Wireless Charging Platform, the Tesla charging mat can charge three Qi-certified devices at the same time, including iPhones and AirPods cases but not Apple Watches. And as with AirPower, what makes the Wireless Charging Platform special is that you can place the devices anywhere without worrying whether they’re properly lined up.
The design of the charger is decidedly Tesla, with an industrial matte black frame, sharp edges and angles, and a surface dressed in Alcantara fabric. It’s adorned with a small black Tesla logo on the front but otherwise won’t draw much attention to itself. Inside, the design is very similar to AirPower, with 30 charging coils overlapping each other to fill the entire surface. But it’s closer to a different product: it appears to be essentially the Nomad Base Station Pro in a different shell.
According to Engadget’s Cherlynn Low, who reviewed one of the devices, charging speeds are “comparable to MagSafe and other Qi devices that support 15W rates.” The site reported that there was “a slight delay of a few seconds” after dropping a phone on the charging surface and phones “felt warmer than usual” after leaving them on the charger for an hour.
That last point is important because reports suggest the main issue that led to AirPower’s demise was overheating. Low says the heat “wasn’t enough to alarm or burn” her, but it’s definitely worth noting for anyone who plans on spending $300 on one. Apple never announced a price for AirPower, but since the MagSafe Duo costs $129, we assume AirPower would have been at least $249 at launch.
If you’re interested in buying one of Tesla’s Wireless Charging Platforms, you should probably act fast. Like Apple, Tesla has a strong fanbase and its products generally sell out fairly quickly. You can order one now on Tesla.com with free shipping.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.