Skateboards have become the latest object to turn into a phone charger, thanks to Dutch university student Bjorn van den Hout, who created a skateboard that uses kinetic energy generated by its wheels to charge electronic devices.
Van den Hout designed the board, called the Chargeboard, as his graduation project at the Willen de Kooning Academy of Art and Design in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, according to ITProPortal. He said that the board has other capabilities, such as letting the user listen to music.
"The two dynamos in the in the rear axles generate 6V each, this electricity is then converted back to a 5V current and gets stored in to a power box," van den Hout said. "So when you'll plug your iPhone in the dock your phone gets charged and in the meanwhile you can listen to some of your favourite tracks."
A dock speaker is included on the underside of the Chargeboard, which plays music while the user charges their iPhone, CNET reported. The board currently works with the iPhone 4 and 4S. Additional features include a 3.5mm audio jack and a USB 2.0 port, which gives users the opportunity to play music from other devices while charging them.
The board's specifications state that users will be able to charge their phones after one hour of riding on the board. The internal battery is also capable of storing enough power to charge a device eight times.
Van den Hout said he is in the early stages of developing the Chargeboard, and that he will accept help from other individuals or organizations so he can make improvements to his project, ITProPortal reported.
"Chareboard is now still a prototype in development," van den Hout wrote. "If there is a brand, product developer or anyone else interested in Chargeboard it can hopefully be further developed."