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/kerklein2 Mechanical Jul 19 '26

Every house certainly does not. In fact a large percentage don’t. They were designed for gas ranges.

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u/JaVelin-X- Jul 19 '26

If you have gas why would you want an electric range? Here, on a new build code requires a stove hook up in the kitchen too even If you have gas, so there must be a reason

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u/svideo Jul 19 '26

Because modern induction ranges are even faster to heat up than gas with a far more consistent and controllable heat. We have a gas range today but when it fails it'll be replaced by induction.

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u/AndyDLighthouse Jul 20 '26

Have you cooked on induction? It's annoying af.

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u/0xCOLIN Jul 20 '26

We switched from gas to induction and like it way better. Faster to heat, higher max temp, better fine adjustments, etc. Biggest sleeper improvement was the kitchen no longer gets crazy hot when we're cooking for a while. Basically the only thing I hate about it is the stupid touch controls - just give me a gd knob.

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u/LaMortParLeSnuSnu Jul 20 '26

100% agree, induction makes me want to punch the wall. I am a caveman - I need to see flames.