O2 releases energy efficient universal phone charger

Mobile phones are a gadget that many of us upgrade on a regular basis and most members of your family have. This leads to multiple phone chargers lying around the house with slightly different leads for different phones meaning you can’t ever share them. Although small the chargers can get quite hot and continue to use energy once your phone is fully charged unless you remember to unhook it.


Network operator O2 have come up with a solution that will mean not only can you use the same charger for multiple phones, but that charger will also save you money on energy bills. It is called the O2 Universal Charger and has been designed in a modular form, meaning there are leadss to fit most phones, and the possibility to add further attachments for future phones if necessary. Right now it supports Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson phones, but iPhone and BlackBerry connectors will be available early next year.

Unlike typical phone chargers the O2 one is a bit more intelligent when it comes to using energy. Once your phone reaches full charge it cuts the power being drawn significantly so if you forget to unplug it won’t have as much impact on your energy usage. Also, O2 have managed to stop the charger from losing energy through heat dissipation.

Overall O2 claim the Universal Charger could use 70% less energy than the equivalent charger shipped with your mobile and that it meets Energy Star guidelines. If you got everyone using these charges it could therefore add up to significant energy savings.


Once mobile phones are charged, most charges continue to deliver electricity to the handset (indeed, many phones now pop up a message saying they're charged, thank you very much, and please unplug them).

This charger has an energy control system which reduces the charge once the phone has had enough.

It's also claimed that the heat generated by this charger is less than most, reducing waste further.

O2 claims it cuts energy consumption by up to 70pc.

Of course, it's not that an individual charger uses that much power, but there are a lot of them, as the emails suggest (in fact, more than that – there are an estimated 73m mobiles in the UK).

If you happen to be buying an O2 handset, you can buy the charger at half price, until the end of the month.

Buy one for the office – just think of the email capacity, electricity and staff time you could save.

O2 Energy Efficient Universal Charger