Alogic Rapid Power 100W Car Charger review: Two ports, plenty of power

AppleInsider · April 16, 2023 7:26PM

The Alogic Rapid Power 100W Car Charger provides enough juice to charge your most power-intensive gear, including your MacBook Pro.

Alogic Rapid Power Car Charger

New chargers inside your home have been taking off as users require more ports in general and faster ones. We see multi-chargers that can output up to 245W of power at once with four USB-C ports.

There's no reason why your mobile chargers shouldn't be advancing as well. The 5W USB-A charger you've been holding onto isn't cutting it these days.

Alogic is out with its latest car charger that provides multiple ports and plenty of USB-C PD power you can use for your iPhone, iPad, or even your Mac.

MacBook Pro in car

Tried and true

This 100W car charger from Alogic isn't a GaN charger, but it still has a relatively compact size. It sticks out slightly from the in-car power port, roughly an inch at most.

On the front is a green LED status light that encircles the dual charging ports in the center. The light isn't very bright but it still feels unnecessary.

The light looks neat but doesn't add any functionality, and a singular LED probably would have been just as effective. At least it isn't very bright that it would be distracting.

Charging our MacBook Pro

Alogic splits the output power between two ports, with one USB-C port sitting atop a USB-A port. The Type-A port can handle up to 18W of power, while the Type-C port can manage up to 100W.

Crucially, the maximum output is 100W so you can't do 100W with the top port and then an additional 18W on the bottom. The combined output gets capped at 100W.

We usually are ambivalent about USB-A ports sticking around but we've seen a lot of car accessories that annoyingly are still relegated to Type-A -- yes, still launching in 2023 -- so maybe here it is more necessary than on your Mac.

Nonetheless, most of our gear is USB-C so if our car already didn't have dedicated USB-C ports we'd probably have more issues with the legacy connection.

Alogic Car Charger in box

Not everyone needs a super speed 100W USB-C Power Delivery port in their car but for us, it has certainly come in handy. We've toted our Mac along and written while on road trips and having such as expeditious power supply has been a lifesaver.

The latest 16-inch MacBook Pro can technically charge 140W of power if using the included USB-C to MagSafe cable, but 100W is still plenty. It's also great for items like large battery packs you neglected to charge until you got in the car.

If you're looking for more juice on the go, the Alogic Rapid Power 100W Car Charger is a solid solution that keeps one foot in the past.

Alogic 100W Rapid Power 100W Car Charger -- Pros

Compact size

100W combined output

USB-C and USB-A ports

Alogic 100W Rapid Power 100W Car Charger -- Cons

Status light is unecessary

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Where to buy

You can grab the Alogic Rapid Power 100W Car Charger from Alogic's website for $79.95.

Read on AppleInsider

doggone · April 17, 2023 2:13AM

This sounds cool and does away with the new for a power inverter for charging laptops. Sill a bit pricey but good if you are on the road a lot.

Fidonet127 · April 17, 2023 6:50AM

There is only so much power you can pull out of a car outlet. Check your car manual or outlet fuse to see how much power you can pull. The higher voltage of household power allows for more power to be converted for our devices.

100 watts to devices means at least 8.33 Amps from the car, as there is still losses in power conversion. For 120vAC you pull at least 0.833 Amps. Household power usually allows 15 or 20 Amps so no problem there as the outlet can supply 1,800 Watts at 15 Amps. This is for the US. Other countries can supply higher voltage to their regular outlets but I’m not sure what the regular Amperage is allowed. Back to cars, as they are nominally 12v, the wattage they can supply is much lower. Depending on the vehicle, 10, 15, or 20 amps can be supplied. At 10 Amps, you have a maximum of 120 Watts that can be supplied, and this adapter will use most of that if delivering full power to devices. 15 Amps = 180 Watts. 20 Amps = 240 Watts, so supplying 245 Watts to devices as the AC powered charger does is not possible. Then you have to consider how many Amps the car can supply via the engine or by converting from the EV higher voltage batteries. The re has been talk about 24V or 48V for devices, however the standard is 12V. Having higher voltage to devices would help.

maltz · April 17, 2023 4:27PM

Fidonet127 said:

There is only so much power you can pull out of a car outlet.

Your math is correct, but I'm not sure why you reach the conclusion that this device might be a problem. These power outlets are capable of 15-20A in any relatively modern car I've seen, which is actually closer to 200-275W when the engine/alternator is running (~14v), again, not accounting for conversion losses. Even at 10A, that would probably be enough to fully power this device, though it might be borderline when the engine isn't running. But charging/running a laptop at 100W with the engine off probably isn't a great idea in the first place.

Fidonet127 · April 17, 2023 6:12PM

maltz said:

Fidonet127 said:

There is only so much power you can pull out of a car outlet.

Your math is correct, but I'm not sure why you reach the conclusion that this device might be a problem. These power outlets are capable of 15-20A in any relatively modern car I've seen, which is actually closer to 200-275W when the engine/alternator is running (~14v), again, not accounting for conversion losses. Even at 10A, that would probably be enough to fully power this device, though it might be borderline when the engine isn't running. But charging/running a laptop at 100W with the engine off probably isn't a great idea in the first place.

This device isn't a problem. The article seemed to suggest we might be able to advance things to where we might be able to run the equivalent of the mentioned AC charger in a single DC outlet. That is a problem. With allowing for conversion losses, the power is not there. For manufactures, should they limit them selves to 10, 12, 15, or 20 Amps for the devices they make?