No graphene in the power bank
An independent laboratory found no graphene at all inside a power bank sold on the promise of it. TechInsights, a technology analysis firm, bought a Chargeasap FLA201G power bank marketed as running on graphene batteries for faster charging. It contains 4 Panasonic NCR21700 cells, the same cell model used inside a Tesla Model 3, though TechInsights tested only the power bank cells, not a cell taken from a car. Its engineers ran Raman spectroscopy, a method that identifies a material from how it scatters laser light, at 3 separate spots on the cell anode, the electrode a battery pulls current from. All 3 spots matched ball milled graphite, a manufacturing byproduct that can look like graphene in this test but was never added on purpose.
A separate battery, and it is real
A different product carries the same 2 words honestly. Graphene Manufacturing Group, working with the University of Queensland, built a graphene aluminium ion battery, a cell that swaps the lithium in a normal battery for aluminium and uses a graphene material at the cathode, the electrode current flows into while the battery charges. The underlying material research was peer reviewed and published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials in 2021. When the company first announced the battery, Craig Nicol, its managing director, said of the charging speed, "It charges so fast it's basically a super capacitor."
How much it can actually hold
New testing from Graphene Manufacturing Group shows real, measured progress, still a long way from a finished product. In December 2025, the company reported its pouch cell version, a flat, foil wrapped cell format closer to what a real device would use than an early lab cell, held 26 watt hours per kilogram of energy when charged in 6 minutes, and 58 watt hours per kilogram when charged over 1 hour. By April 2026, those figures rose to 49 and 101, confirmed by the Battery Innovation Center of Indiana according to the company. The cell remains at Battery Technology Readiness Level 4, a laboratory testing stage on a scale that reaches 9 once a product actually ships.
Both dates come from Graphene Manufacturing Group, source 2, which restates its own December 2025 figures for comparison.
Show the numbers
| 6 minute charge December 2025 | 26 |
| 6 minute charge April 2026 | 49 |
| 1 hour charge December 2025 | 58 |
| 1 hour charge April 2026 | 101 |
Still short of its own target
Even the newer figure sits below what the company itself is aiming for. Graphene Manufacturing Group states a minimum specification of more than 100 watt hours per kilogram for a 1 hour charge, which the 101 figure already clears, and a target of more than 150 watt hours per kilogram at the same charge speed, which it has not yet reached.
Figures are all for a 1 hour charge. The company target and minimum specification are stated as more than 150 and more than 100 watt hours per kilogram. The 101 figure, the most recent confirmed result from Graphene Manufacturing Group, is source 2.
Show the numbers
| Company target | 150 |
| Most recent confirmed figure | 101 |
| Company minimum specification | 100 |
The number that will not go away
A different, older number keeps circulating anyway. Coverage of the 2021 announcement stated 150 to 160 watt hours per kilogram, a figure from a small, hand built coin cell, a laboratory test format built before a device sized cell, and stated in company commentary rather than inside the peer reviewed paper itself. That paper measured the cathode material alone, a reversible capacity of 197 milliamp hours per gram, a different measurement from a full battery cell energy density, and states no watt hours per kilogram figure for a complete cell. The 2 findings in this article describe 2 separate products. Nothing about the fake power bank says anything about the chemistry Graphene Manufacturing Group built, and nothing about that chemistry says anything about the fake power bank.