December 2024 was a significant month for all travelers carrying travel tech accessories, especially from a cost and time perspective. In December 2024, the European Commission passed a new legislation that paved the way for the so-called universal charger. In effect, the European Union has taken a stance on the multitude of charging connectors out in the wild. With this legislation we travelers can look forward to using one type of charger in the near future, which is the USB-C charger.
I reached out to learn more about this decision and what it means. What I did not expect was the numbers that tell a story of sustainability and the commercial lack of will for standardization (I’m looking at you, Apple). It turns out that not only is this new legislation going to save you space (no more +10 cables in your luggage to charge or connect your devices) and save you money (no ned to buy so many cables). No, as a matter of fact, this is a strike for the environment, like the following numbers illustrate.
- Consumers spend 2.4 billion Euros on standalone chargers every year.
- Every year 11 000 tons of e-waste is the result of chargers that have been thrown away or that are unused.
The work on the universal charger started in 2009 and an EU factsheet reports that since then the number of mobile chargers has decreased from 30 to 3, a 90% decrease in the jungle of mobile chargers, no less.
The factsheet by the EU goes on to describe the estimated gains from this USB-C universal charger legislation: 250 million Euros will be saved by consumers on a yearly basis, and almost 1000 tons less e-waste will be generated yearly.
So what exactly are the new rules by the European Commission?
Harmonisation of charging port and fast charging technology.
Unbundling the sale of chargers from the sale of electronic devices (no more “proprietary solutions with unique chargers”).
The minimum power that should be provided by a charger should be equal to or higher than 25 watts.
Pack less, charge easier, save money and the environment
How’s that for a quadruple win. The road to the universal charger has a couple of dates that are noteworthy. From the 28th December 2024, the new rule applied to the following devices:
- Digital cameras
- Earbuds
- E-readers
- Headphones
- Headsets
- Keyboards
- Mice
- Mobile phones
- Portable navigation systems
- Portable speakers
- Tablets
- Videogame consoles
From 28th April 2026 the new rule will also apply to laptops. The future is bright and in the European Union we can look forward to exploring Europe with less chargers for our electronic devices.
Paul-Christian Markovski
For EuropeZigZag.com
