If you've considered swapping out your gas stove for an induction stove — maybe because of recent savings from rebates and incentives or because of the health risks tied to gas stoves — you might have run up against some challenges with your home's electrical panel.
But one startup has come up with an ingenious solution, and its name is Charlie.
Charlie just may be the stove of the future. Built by the innovative home energy startup Copper, it's a super powerful induction stove that can be plugged into a regular kitchen outlet thanks to a built-in rechargeable battery.
"The battery acts as a kind of buffer and gives you that magic, high-power, high-octane experience, but doesn't require you to upgrade your whole home's electrical system," Sam Calisch, founder and CEO of Copper, told The Cool Down.
Think of the onboard battery like the stove's wingman — it helps deliver great performance with clean, renewable energy, all while providing backup power that could cook three to five meals if there's an outage in your neighborhood.
The control and precision of induction cooking add up to some great meals.
"The first grilled cheese I made on induction. … I still think about [it]," Calisch said. "It was just the perfect golden brown, something I had never been able to achieve before."
In fact, even a famous Netflix chef and bestselling author has switched to Copper's Charlie stove.
In an exclusive interview, Calisch walked us through how the new battery-supported stove works — and how it can prevent needless home renovation headaches in the process.
🗣️ Which of these factors would most effectively motivate you to buy an induction stove?
🔘 Healthier indoor air 🏠
🔘 Superior cooking results 🍳
🔘 Helping the planet 🌎
🔘 I wouldn't buy an induction stove 🚫
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
💪 What makes induction stoves so much better — and safer?
Power: "One of the reasons [induction is] so magical … is that it's insanely powerful. When you turn that burner on, you get all the power you want. It's delivered really, really fast — faster than gas, faster than conventional electric," Calisch told us.
In fact, induction cooktops can boil water three times faster, all thanks to their electromagnetic technology that's way more efficient than gas stoves. According to Rewiring America, "induction stoves have 90 percent energy efficiency versus 74 percent for electric and 40 percent for gas," as a lot of the heat from a gas flame is lost to the surrounding air.
Air quality: "There's a lot of emergent public health research around the dangers of burning gas in our homes, especially the gas stove, gas furnace, gas water heater," Calisch explained.
"These are generally vented to the outside, but for gas stoves that combustion is happening in your kitchen, in your living space, where you're breathing — where your kids are breathing — and they produce a lot of really nasty stuff." In fact, a recent study shows that one in eight childhood asthma cases are caused by gas stoves.
The good news is that all those harmful "chemicals are drastically reduced by switching to induction," Calisch said.
Safety: Beyond power and air quality, induction stoves are also physically safer for kids to be around. That's because induction works by using electricity to create a magnetic field that only reacts with specific pots and pans (i.e., those made of metal that a magnet would stick to). The lack of a flame is a huge game-changer for parents who want to cook with their kids.
"There's not fire, there's not a big thing that gets really, really hot," Calisch noted. While the heat of the pot or pan itself still presents some danger, that safety element is a huge benefit. "Kids on a step ladder cooking [on induction stoves] is the cutest thing," he told us, mentioning that customers will even share pictures of their kids (of a reasonable age) enjoying the moment.
💸 How much can customers save by switching to induction?
"We designed [the Copper] system to be the most cost-effective way to get induction in nearly every setting," Calisch said.
The first way customers can save with Copper's induction tech is by bypassing all the logistical costs and headaches that often come with upgrading your electrical system to accommodate an induction stove. Because of Copper's built-in battery that draws extra power when you're not cooking, it can run on a conventional 120-volt outlet and you'll avoid the electrician visit that "will cost, in most cases, more than the stove," Calisch noted.
The battery also means a Copper induction stove can run for roughly four to six meals during a power outage.
Secondly, induction stoves qualify for a wide variety of incentives and tax credits — typically up to $1,200 a year.
And beyond your typical incentives, "I would say the juiciest of them is not available to other induction stoves. It's only available to Copper," Calisch told us. It's a 30% federal tax credit because of the onboard battery. It "applies to everyone with a tax liability, and so you get to take 30% [off the] cost of a Copper product and have it as a credit when you file your taxes."
Copper's 30-inch Charlie range retails at $6,000, so the tax credit is nearly $2,000.
💚 Why is induction better for the planet
By switching from a gas stove to induction, we're no longer releasing harmful fumes into the kitchen — or sending those fumes out into the environment. In fact, even when a gas stove is off, it's still leaking planet-warming methane gas — even with a model that doesn't use a pilot light.
Plus, "what's interesting about Charlie with a battery inside is that the battery allows you to control when you draw electricity," Calisch told us. Just like a "smart" thermostat automatically adjusts the temperature to maximize your comfort while lowering your energy bills, Charlie's onboard battery charges "intelligently" during times when renewable energy is available from the grid.
"Compared to other induction stoves, Charlie is a far greener option because it can draw electricity when it's very clean — generated by wind and solar — and then you can use it whenever you want — when you get home and cook dinner, at times when the grid is usually the dirtiest," he said.
🍮 The proof is in the pudding
In late 2024, Copper was awarded $32 million to test, prototype, and supply 10,000 of its induction stoves to the New York City Housing Authority, per Canary Media.
"The scale of the contract [is] going to allow our company to grow sustainably," Calisch told us.
Bigger picture, this is a significant step for battery-supported induction technology. "The biggest housing agency in the U.S. [is] recognizing that the costs associated with conventional electrification — conventionally switching from gas to induction — are prohibitive," Calisch said. "This approach of putting a battery inside in order to avoid needing to run new electric, in order to avoid needing to do grid upgrades, is actually the most cost-effective approach."
🗺️ Where can I get a Copper stove?
Copper's stoves are now available nationwide. The company reports it has sold hundreds of units since launching the product in late 2024.
Calisch also mentioned that "the features that are currently fleshed out are the tip of the iceberg. …. There's some exciting stuff coming that's not yet there, but that will be pushed out to existing stoves via software update." Cooper has made a few firmware updates already, including adjusting the oven fan to decrease the amount of time it stays on. The company sent out an email to customers beforehand to let them know their stoves would receive this upgrade at night over their WiFi.
Calisch noted that "there are also additional products coming that will enhance both the experience of Charlie as well as eventually touch other parts of the home."
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