Adidas has made a new pair of wireless headphones that are powered by the sun. The Adidas RPT-02 SOL on-ear headphones were made in collaboration with Zound Industries. They can be charged by either natural or artificial light. We were pleasantly surprised by Adidas’s RPT-01, which can play music wirelessly for up to 40 hours. The newer line looks almost exactly like the old one, but it has a playback time of 80 hours and can be charged at any time of day. It is also made of a mix of nylon and recycled plastic.
The headband of the RPT-02 SOL is made of a light-cell material called Powerfoyle, which is made by the Swedish solar tech company Exeger. Solar cell material can be screen-printed onto plastic, which makes it useful for a wide range of things like walls, cars, and consumer electronics.
Powerfoyle can charge in a wide range of light conditions, unlike older types of solar cells that need a strong and steady source of natural light. The RPT-02 isn’t the first pair of headphones to use solar power; other companies have made them before, but they’re still not very common.
The RPT-02 is not waterproof, but it has an IPX4 rating, which means it can handle sweat and water splashes from an ocean or lake nearby. There are buttons on the headphones that let you change songs or adjust the volume, and there’s also an indicator that helps you find the best light for charging. And if nothing else works, there is a USB-C port. The RPT-02 SOL costs $229 and can be bought online starting on August 23.