eZelleron

About eZelleron

eZelleron GmbH, a Dresden-based company founded in 2008 by Dr. Sascha Kühn, focused on developing low-emission, portable energy sources. The company's core technology revolved around fuel cells, which convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy, aiming to offer a grid-independent power supply for mobile electronic devices. This process is designed to be efficient, silent, and environmentally considerate, producing only water vapor and carbon dioxide as byproducts.

A significant milestone for the company was the development of "kraftwerk," a pocket-sized, portable power plant. This device, fueled by standard lighter or camping gas, was designed to be quickly refillable and provide enough energy to charge a smartphone multiple times, far exceeding the capacity of traditional battery-based power banks of a similar size. To fund the initial production, eZelleron launched a highly successful Kickstarter campaign in early 2015 through a U.S. entity, eZelleron Inc. The campaign vastly surpassed its $500,000 goal, raising over $1.5 million from more than 11,000 backers.

Despite the successful crowdfunding, the project encountered significant hurdles. The company faced a trademark infringement lawsuit from the electronic music band Kraftwerk over the product's name. More critically, eZelleron GmbH experienced financial difficulties, reportedly after a planned investment of 40 million euros failed to materialize, leading the company to file for insolvency in late 2015. While the German entity went through insolvency proceedings, the U.S.-based eZelleron Inc., which ran the Kickstarter campaign, was technically separate but faced significant delays. Founder Sascha Kühn attempted to restructure and continue the project under new entities like Kraftwerk Inc. and eZelleron Tubes GmbH, aiming to deliver the promised devices, albeit with major delays from the initial December 2015 target.