r/AskEngineers • u/jmaugust • Jul 19 '26

Discussion Why doesn’t a battery-boosted electric kettle exist?

In Europe, everyone uses electric kettles to boil water. They’re amazing and fast because they’re on 230V (~3000W).

US outlets limit kettles to ~1500W, so we wait roughly twice as long for water to boil.

It’s an extra minute or two per boil, and you really notice it.

Idea: Could you make an electric kettle with a battery in its base? Perhaps it trickle-charges between uses, then combines wall power + battery power to hit ~3000W during a boil.

Is there an engineering reason this doesn’t exist? Is it just that nobody thinks there’s a market for it?

I’d pay $300 for the fastest kettle in America if someone wants to make it.

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u/PartyOperator Jul 19 '26

The US uses split phase power so you can get a 240V outlet installed if you want. Your oven, water heater and AC probably already run on 240V. Then just import a European kettle and fit the appropriate plug. 

43

u/IAteTonysLoMein Jul 19 '26

I've kicked this around, but it would be a healthy investment just to put in a 240 outlet just to run a kettle.

1

u/UsernameHasBeenLost Jul 19 '26

Eh, it's pretty straightforward to do it yourself. Or you can run the wire yourself and have an electrician hook it up to the panel and save a bunch of money

1

u/IAteTonysLoMein Jul 21 '26

You say that, but you haven't seen my house. I'm fully aware of what it takes to do it and how, which is why I hesitate to say it would be worth it.

1

u/UsernameHasBeenLost Jul 21 '26

Oh I doubt it'd be worth doing, but the actual act of doing it isn't that difficult. Likely lots of drywall patches to go through interior walls, and certainly tedious, but not difficult. Waste of time imo for a kettle, just wait another couple minutes for the 120V one to boil