On a small island, affected by a tropical storm, the power network failed completely. Numerous trees had fallen on power lines, and the whole network had to be switched off in order to prevent accidents caused by high voltage lines lying on the ground. The electricity company dispatched its repair teams all over the island. On the second day of repair efforts, the company headquarters lost contact with all the teams: The accumulators in the VHF transceivers carried by the repairmen were empty. These radios had always been charged at the workshop where the workers were based - but all power had failed, and so the chargers did not work.

For the electricity company, the situation that they themselves would be without power had simply been beyond imagination. A solution to prevent such an embarrassing incident in the future was quickly found: Chargers that allow charging the accumulators of the walky-talkies from the cigarette lighter plug of a car.