Among the many laptops and desktops that Lenovo announced at CES 2025 is an intriguing peripheral: the Self-Charging Bluetooth Keyboard. This unique productivity keyboard ditches the traditional battery, instead utilizing solar and ambient light to charge and store energy.
The Lenovo Self-Charging Bluetooth Keyboard might seem like your run-of-the-mill keyboard, but it comes with a party trick that might just save you a buck in the long run. Using advanced photovoltaic technology and fast-charging supercapacitors, the keyboard actually harnesses ambient light to store energy, eliminating the need for disposable batteries.
We've seen plenty of solar-powered devices over the years, but only recently have we seen viable alternatives to battery-powered PC accessories. In fact, at last year's CES, we observed dye-sensitized solar cells that promise a green alternative to powering our devices. We're years away from one of these solutions powering a laptop or even a phone, but the tech is perfectly suited for smaller devices like keyboards and mice.
In this keyboard's case, a high-efficiency light-collecting panel sits at the top of the device, where it's constantly absorbing either solar or ambient light. At the same time, supercapacitors store energy from the light captured through the panel. Unlike conventional batteries, supercapacitors have an exceptionally long lifespan, lasting hundreds of thousands of charge-discharge cycles, whereas lithium batteries typically last only five years or less.
New battery technology aside, the keyboard is quite a looker. A spill-resistant design gives the full-size keyboard a modern look, while a three-zone layout divides the keyboard into sections, offering a wide array of customization options. While you have the option for a USB-C connection (hidden by a removable cap at the top of the keyboard), you can also connect up to three devices via Bluetooth. Syncing the keyboard up with the Lenovo Accessories and Display Manager app will offer both on-screen brightness indicators and real-time power tracking to manage the keyboard's battery levels on the fly.
The eco-friendly Lenovo Self-Charging Bluetooth Keyboard will cost $69.99 when it goes on sale this May.