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Portable power stations are becoming more than just a battery – they are appliances that can augment a home. Beyond camping trips, they can help keep the lights on in emergencies, keep computer essentials on when the power goes out, and power backyard activities. The EcoFlow DELTA 2 combines crazy-fast recharge times with huge power output and long life thanks to LFP batteries. And at $999 is priced right in line with the competition. Be sure to hit the video below to check it out. 

Capacity, battery, and cycle life

Having a power station that’s capable of handling life’s adventures as well as emergencies delivers peace of mind. In today’s connected world, having one at home for essential devices like a CPAP machine is just as important as running an electric grill at the campsite.

To handle life’s twists and turns, the EcoFlow DELTA 2 features 1024Wh of capacity from its LFP or LiFePO4 battery. Rated up to 3,000 cycles, the DELTA 2 is also built to handle life for years to come.

Use code EFSD5OFF to get 5% off all DELTA 2 orders. Valid until Nov 17.

ecoflow-delta-2

Weight and dimensions

While larger power stations are usually heavy and inconvenient to transport, the 27-lb EcoFlow DELTA 2 features large handles that make it easy to get off the shelf, throw in the back of a car, or take along for a photo shoot. 

EcoFlow DELTA 2: Video

EcoFlow DELTA 2: Power and output

To match the large 1KWh capacity, DELTA 2 packs 1800W AC power output. That’s enough for a normal household microwave or one of my favorites, a Breville Barista Pro espresso machine. The DELTA 2 can also prevent overloading thanks to X-Boost technology that reaches up to 2200W. 

ecoflow-delta-2

Ins and outs

To keep up with changing situations at home or at the campsite, the EcoFlow DELTA 2 also has a nice assortment of outputs for powering up to 15 devices simultaneously. On the front are two USB-A ports at 2.4A going up to 12W max. Two USB-A fast charge ports can reach up to 18W max output. 

Additionally, there are two USB-C ports that can reach up to 100W max output. 

On the back are six AC outlets for up to 1800W total output with a surge up to 2700W. Under the AC outlets are two 3A DC outputs as well as a 10A car-style barrel port. 

ecoflow-delta-2

Display

Quickly finding all of the most important information is simple on the DELTA 2’s bright display. A large percentage and circular indicator quickly show how much charge is left right in the middle. On the left, the largest number on the display is an indicator of how many hours the power station can continue with the current load. Additionally, that time will switch to recharge time, which is displayed in hours or minutes when plugged in.

On the right are readings for current output and input wattages. 

ecoflow-delta-2

Recharge time

One standout feature of the EcoFlow DELTA 2 is its incredible recharge rate. On AC power, this power station can go from 0% to 80% in 50 minutes and up to 100% in 80 minutes. Considering that many portable power stations can take upwards of eight hours to get back to a full charge, this is a huge time-saving feature. Rather than taking one-third of a day, the battery can be ready for an incoming storm, last-minute camping trip, or a backyard movie night in just over an hour. 

Additionally, the DELTA 2 can be charged by up to 500W from solar panels. With the right hardware, the DELTA 2 makes living green a little bit easier. 

And when not in use outside of the home, the DELTA 2 also works as an emergency power supply. If you need to keep some essential electronics powered on when the lights go out, having the DELTA 2 set up as an emergency power supply will keep a computer powered on, a CPAP machine running, or any other critical device.

Wrap-up

If the EcoFlow DELTA 2 sounds like an appliance you want to add to your arsenal, the $1,000 price tag is right in line with the competition, but the feature set makes it a great choice. Crazy-fast recharge times and huge power output mean it’s ready for life’s twists, turns, and adventures. 

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The global critical minerals race is heating up — and rare earths stocks are skyrocketing

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The global critical minerals race is heating up — and rare earths stocks are skyrocketing

A wheel loader takes ore to a crusher at the MP Materials rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California, U.S. January 30, 2020.

Steve Marcus | Reuters

The emergence of critical minerals as a new arena of geopolitical competition has coincided with a dizzying rally in U.S.-listed rare earths mining stocks.

Despite paring gains in recent weeks, shares of Critical Metals have advanced 241% over the last three months, while NioCorp Developments, Energy Fuels and Idaho Strategic Resources have all surged well above 100% over the same period.

The eye-watering gains are even more remarkable year-to-date. Energy Fuels’ stock price has quadrupled through the first 10 months of the year, while NioCorp Developments’ shares have nearly quintupled.

Rare earths have come to the fore as a key bargaining chip in the ongoing geopolitical rivalry between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies.

Tony Sage, CEO of Critical Metals, which has one of the world’s largest rare earths deposits in southern Greenland, described the rally of U.S.-listed rare earths miners as evidence of a major market boom.

“I talk of it like this, I mean, there have been four big booms. You had the gold boom in the 19th century, the oil boom in the 20th century, in the early 21st century you had the tech boom — and now you’ve got the rare earths boom,” Sage told CNBC by telephone.

“But the rare earths boom is the future. It will power all of the above.”

We are going from a philosophy of ‘fill the gap’ through imports to ‘mine the gap’ domestically or regionally.

Audun Martinsen

Head of supply chain research at Rystad Energy

Rare earths refer to 17 elements on the periodic table that have an atomic structure that gives them special magnetic properties. These materials are vital components to a vast array of modern technologies, from everyday electronics, such as smartphones, to electric vehicles and military equipment.

China, which has a near-monopoly on rare earths, recently threatened to expand its export controls on the elements to further leverage its dominance of the supply chain. However, following an in-person meeting in South Korea on Thursday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Beijing agreed to delay the Oct. 9 export controls by one year.

U.S.-listed rare earths stocks rallied on the news, although analysts remain skeptical about whether the apparent trade truce can offer long-term relief.

U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping as they hold a bilateral meeting at Gimhae International Airport, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, in Busan, South Korea, October 30, 2025.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

“As in all booms, there were a lot of oil companies that couldn’t find oil and there were a lot of gold companies that couldn’t find gold. And I’m sure there are going to be a lot of rare earths companies that won’t make it either — because when there’s a boom, there’s hype. And when there’s hype, there’s overexuberance in investing,” Critical Metals’ Sage said.

“It’s not a straight rise up. It’s a jagged line, but the trend is in the right direction if you’ve got the right project in the right place, and you’ve got the right partners,” he added.

‘A much bigger and longer supercycle’

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Shares of Critical Metals over the last three months.

“In the last nine to 10 months that Trump has been in power, he’s talked about annexing Greenland, he’s talked about doing a deal with Ukraine for rare earths and then the real clincher was this equity deal with MP Materials,” Das said.

“So, I think the runway over the next two to three years is going to be very fruitful,” he added.

Not everyone is as bullish on the outlook for rare earths-related stocks, however.

Audun Martinsen, head of supply chain research at Rystad Energy, said the recent surge in equity prices reflected a mix of geopolitical tension, strategic policy support and speculative momentum.

“Rare earths have clearly moved to the center of global industrial strategy, vital for defense, EVs and clean energy, but this looks more like the early stages of a structural shift than a mature ‘fourth boom,'” Martinsen told CNBC by email.

Neodymium is displayed at the Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co. factory in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China, on Wednesday, May 5, 2010.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

“We are going from a philosophy of ‘fill the gap’ through imports to ‘mine the gap’ domestically or regionally,” he continued. “It will be a lengthy, expensive and rocky path forward as adequate, cost-effective resources and element diversity are complex to get full control over.”

Clean energy transition

Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at Columbia University, said there were two clear factors at work as global competition intensifies to secure the supply of critical minerals — one structural and the other political.

“The structural: Despite whatever political attempts there may be to stop or derail things, the clean-energy transition is happening — and it is accelerating — and yes, it depends on a number of critical minerals, whose prices are bound to jump,” Wagner told CNBC by email.

China, for instance, is the low-cost supplier of many of these minerals, Wagner said, noting that the Asian giant’s mineral dominance is by no means an accident.

“Beijing has invested heavily in green industrial policy for years, focusing on the full, integrated supply chain. That’s where politics enters,” Wagner said.

“Some attempts to onshore supply chains are eminently justified for national security and other reasons, and those attempts will increase prices and stocks of U.S. mining companies. Some of what we see, of course, is merely the current politics or erratic trade wars and the like,” he added.

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Survey Sunday: we asked how much home charging SHOULD cost, you answered

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Survey Sunday: we asked how much home charging SHOULD cost, you answered

For the last few weeks, we’ve been running a sidebar survey about how much Electrek readers think it would cost to add EV charging systems to their homes. After receiving over twenty-four hundred responses, here’s what you told us.

In our previous survey, we asked readers why they chose to install solar panels at home. In the recap, many of our commenters mentioned having their systems systems pull double duty — charging home backup batteries and topping off their electric cars. That got us thinking: as more and more first-time EV owners look into the many benefits of home charging, how much do they expect to pay for home charging?

Based on over 2,400 responses, this is what you told us.

What do you expect to pay for home charging?


By the numbers; original content.

The most positive surprise was that more than a third of Electrek readers who responded to the poll already had 240V outlets in their garage, so they expected to pay effectively $0 – their homes are EV ready now!

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Of the remaining 64%, 44% were fairly evenly split between a relatively straightforward ~$500-1,000 wiring job with a few wiring or panel upgrades while only about 18% expected to spend over $1,000 due to having an older home, a detached garage, or for some other (apparently pricey and/or inconvenient) reason.

Navigating the questions


EVSE installer; via Qmerit.

Just like you would for home solar, we’d recommend getting a quote from several installers before making a decision. One of our trusted partners, Qmerit, offers a quote-sourcing service called PowerHouse. The service scans pricing from thousands of completed electrification installations across North America to provide the best quotes that take regional variability into account and work with homeowners to “bundle” chargers, installation, and even batteries.

America has arrived at an inflection point in which all of the technical, policy and financial elements are in place to support a societal shift toward whole-home electrification. Now what’s needed is a comprehensive way to assemble these complex elements into a simple, financeable, home-energy retrofit that makes it easier to implement.

QMERIT FOUNDER TRACY PRICE

Qmerit says its new bundling program can flag the potential for federal, state, and local utility incentives like the ones we’ve covered from Illinois utility ComEd and others that can reduce or even eliminate the upfront costs of home installations for many.

Original content from Electrek.


If you drive an electric vehicle, make charging at home fast, safe, and convenient with a Level 2 charger installed by Qmerit. As the nation’s most trusted EV charger installation network, Qmerit connects you with licensed, background-checked electricians who specialize in EV charging. You’ll get a quick online estimate, upfront pricing, and installation backed by Qmerit’s nationwide quality guarantee. Their pros follow the highest safety standards so you can plug in at home with total peace of mind.

Ready to charge smarter? Get started today with Qmerit (trusted affiliate).

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California hits back as CARB takes legal action against truck brands

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California hits back as CARB takes legal action against truck brands

Following a lawsuit brought against the California Air Resources Board (CARB) by major heavy truck manufacturers over California’s emissions requirements, CARB has struck back with fresh lawsuit of its own alleging that the manufacturers violated the terms of the 2023 Clean Truck Partnership agreement to sell cleaner vehicles.

Daimler Truck North America, International Motors, Paccar and Volvo Group North America sued the California Air Resources Board in federal court this past August, seeking to invalidate the Clean Truck Partnership emissions reduction deal they signed with the state in 2023 to move away from traditional trucks and toward zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). The main point of the lawsuit was that, because the incoming Trump Administration rolled back Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policies that had previously given individual states the right to set their own environmental and emissions laws, the truck makers shouldn’t have to honor the deals signed with individual states.

“Plaintiffs are caught in the crossfire: California demands that OEMs follow preempted laws; the United States maintains such laws are illegal and orders OEMs to disregard them,” the lawsuit reads. “Accordingly, Plaintiff OEMs file this lawsuit to clarify their legal obligations under federal and state law and to enjoin California from enforcing standards preempted by federal law.”

After several weeks of waiting for a response, we finally have one: CARB is suing the OEMs right back, claiming that the initial suit proves the signing manufacturers, “(have) unambiguously stated that they do not intend to comply.”

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They want to sell Americans more diesel


Peterbilt Model 589; via Peterbilt.

In its lawsuit, CARB argues that monetary damages alone would not make the people of the State of California whole as far as damages are concerned, citing that the stated goal of the 2023 Clean Truck Partnership was, “to achieve emissions reductions that cannot be measured strictly in financial terms,” according to ACT-News.

The agency is asking the court to compel the truck companies to perform on their 2023 obligations or, failing that, to allow CARB to rescind the contract and recover its costs. A hearing on the truck makers’ request for a preliminary injunction was held Friday, with another court date set for November 21, when CARB will seek to dismiss the case brought forth by the truck brands. The outcome of these cases could shape how state and federal government agencies cooperation on emissions rules in the future.

You can read the full 22-page lawsuit, below, then let us know what you think of CARB’s response (and their chances of succeeding) in the comments.

SOURCES: CARB; via ACT-News, Trucking Dive.


If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them. 

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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