Cutting the West’s reliance on China would carry a staggering price. A new study puts the cost of decoupling from China at $23.6tn over 25 years, and warns the bill would land hardest on the industries building Europe’s tech future.

The West has spent three years talking about reducing its dependence on China. A new study tries to price it. According to an exclusive report in the Financial Times, the consultancy EY-Parthenon estimates that the US, the eurozone and the UK would need to invest an extra $23.6tn over 25 years to end their reliance on China in critical industries.

That figure covers manufacturing, technology, research, software and the supply chains beneath them. The wider effort to cut dependence on Chinese chips and rare earths has been building across Western capitals for months.

The burden is split unevenly.

The analysis puts the US bill at $13.7tn, the eurozone’s at $9.1tn and the UK’s at $800bn by 2050. Together that is roughly $940bn in extra spending every year. It would sit on top of what these economies already commit to energy, defence and infrastructure.

For the EU, EY-Parthenon says, the annual sum is close to doubling its entire budget.

A bill the size of the AI boom

The figure is easier to grasp against the technology it would help protect. The US share works out at about $550bn a year. That is close to the $600bn that large American tech groups poured into data centres in 2025.

Put another way, unwinding China from Western supply chains would cost roughly as much each year as the entire American AI build-out. And the materials at stake are the same ones that feed chips, electric cars and those data centres.

Why the materials matter

China’s grip is tightest where it is hardest to replace.

The International Energy Agency expects China to supply more than 60 percent of the world’s refined lithium and cobalt by 2035. It puts China’s share of battery-grade graphite and rare earths at about 80 percent. These are the raw inputs for batteries, magnets and semiconductors.

Europe is already staring at a difficult decade for its chip sector, yet the feedstock still runs through Chinese refineries.

The risk is not hypothetical. Last year Beijing imposed export controls on critical rare earth metals after tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Car production lines in the US and Europe came close to halting before the two sides agreed a truce.

The scare has already pushed the EU towards a rare-earth stockpile and new bets to break China’s grip on chip materials.

The inflation catch

Money alone would not solve it, the report argues. Alicia García-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis, says the West cannot decouple quickly even with heavy investment. Beijing controls too many industrial inputs, she notes, from rare-earth processing to the active ingredients in medicines.

EY-Parthenon adds a second problem. Chinese goods often carry a factory price advantage of 20 to 100 percent, so replacing them would push prices up. The firm estimates European critical sectors could see prices 1 to 2.5 percent higher, keeping inflation above the 2 percent targets of the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.

A partial retreat

The authors do not argue for standing still. Mats Persson, a former Downing Street adviser now at EY-Parthenon, says localising supply chains without saddling taxpayers and consumers with prohibitive costs will be one of the biggest challenges of the coming years.

He expects the annual outlay to start smaller and grow as the effort widens.

A full break, he suggests, is unrealistic. A partial one is not. For Europe, the number sharpens a hard choice. Its push for technological sovereignty now carries a price tag, and the bill for the tools it most wants to control runs into the trillions.

Portable power stations are a great tool for keeping your most important devices — including phones, laptops and routers — charged during an emergency such as a power outage, but what if you need to power your fridge or washing machine? You may be under the impression that you need to spend thousands of dollars on a whole-home backup system such as a Tesla Powerwall. But thankfully, CNET’s lab testing has revealed you don’t need as much wattage to run your home appliances as you might think. 

We tested 19 large and extra-large portable power stations to see how long they could keep our test fridge running in the lab. The results showed that while extra-large models can oftentimes keep your fridge running longer, that’s not universally true, and depending on your energy needs, a smaller portable power station can work just as well for many large appliances. 

Key takeaways: 

• The Fossibot 3600 Pro performed the best overall, keeping the test refrigerator running for an impressive 44.65 hours (1.86 days). The Oupes Mega 5 followed closely behind in second place at 43.72 hours (1.82 days).
• The Oscal Power Max 2400 had the shortest runtime by far, lasting only 12.58 hours (0.52 days).
• The Anker Solix F3800 Plus performed poorly for its size, lasting only 25.68 hours (1.07 days) despite its large 3,840Wh capacity. 
• The Bluetti AC200L unit is the efficiency king for large appliances, lasting 29.27 hours on a 2,048Wh battery. 
• The Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 is a standout performer, lasting 27.4 hours on a 2,048Wh battery.

Lab awards for power stations:

CNET’s lab testing gives us reams and reams of data that let us determine the most efficient portable power stations across every size category. Our winners for round-trip efficiency, which measures how much energy you get back from the power station compared to how much power you need to draw from a wall outlet to charge it, are listed below. 

Most Efficient Small Unit (<600 Wh): UDPower AC0600 (RTE: 72.92%)
Most Efficient Medium Unit (600-1299 Wh): Bluetti Elite 100 V2 Bio-Based (RTE: 83.44%)
Most Efficient Large Unit (1300-2199 Wh): Bluetti Elite 200 (RTE: 81.08%)
Most Efficient X-Large Unit (>2200 Wh): Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus (RTE: 79.66%)

For charging speed, which measures how quickly a portable power station can charge to 100% from empty, we have only one winner. 
Fastest charging: Oupes Mega 1 Lite 0.73 hours (about 44 minutes)

How CNET stress tests portable power stations for disasters 

Each of the 19 portable power stations in our test batch was used to power a full-size refrigerator (Whirlpool, 60Hz, single-phase, 118V, full-load 7.2A) until the battery completely drained. We measured how long each unit kept the refrigerator running and reported the results measured in hours and days. Since this test reflects real-world use rather than a controlled laboratory measurement of battery capacity, efficiency ratings (round-trip efficiency) are only reported from our standard testing procedure.

While the results showed that larger units last longer for demanding appliances, they also revealed that slim, custom-designed models such as the Bluetti FridgeGuard prove you don’t need huge, bulky home backups. In fact, several of our better-performing models weren’t what we consider “extra-large,” ones with a capacity larger than 2,200 watt-hours, but rather fell in a more modest 1,300 to 2,199Wh range. 

Unique measurements we use for our fridge stress testing

Measured watt-hours (Wh): The total usable capacity the battery has available to give.
Fridge watt-hours (Wh): The actual amount of energy the refrigerator consumed over the duration of the test.
Delta: The difference between the measured Wh and the fridge Wh. This represents the energy the power station consumed itself (idle draw) just to keep its inverter running for that amount of time.
Percentage reduction: The delta divided by the measured Wh. This gives us the exact percentage of the battery’s total usable energy that was wasted as internal overhead.

The best power stations for large appliances  

Below is our list of power stations, ordered by how long they kept our test fridge running. 

As seen in the combined list below, while the units with massive XL battery capacities generally sit near the top, highly efficient large units including the Bluetti AC200L and the Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 can outrank several bigger systems (such as the Anker Solix F3800 Plus and Pecron E3600LFP) simply because they waste far less energy. 

The extra-large models naturally dominated the absolute runtimes, but performance varied widely by efficiency, with the Fossibot 3600 Pro being our overall winner for both sheer runtime and efficiency at 44.65 hours (1.86 days). In the large category, while they have smaller batteries, the top large units proved incredibly power-efficient, with the Bluetti AC200L as the overall winner, delivering 29.27 hours of fridge runtime (1.22 days). 

Fridge runtime in order from highest to lowest

1. Fossibot 3600 Pro: 44.65 hours (1.86 days)
2. Oupes Mega 5: 43.72 hours (1.82 days)
3. Jackery Home Power 3600 Plus: 38.58 hours (1.61 days)
4. Jackery Home Power 3000: 32.05 hours (1.34 days)
5. Bluetti Apex 300: 30.43 hours (1.27 days)
6. Bluetti AC200L: 29.27 hours (1.22 days)
7. Anker Solix F3000: 28.97 hours (1.21 days)
8. Pecron E3600LFP: 28.15 hours (1.17 days)
9. Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2: 27.40 hours (1.14 days)
10. Bluetti Elite 200: 26.32 hours (1.10 days)
11. Anker Solix F3800 Plus: 25.68 hours (1.07 days)
12. Bluetti FridgePower: 23.43 hours (0.98 days)
13. ETAKER M2000: 22.48 hours (0.94 days)
14. DJI Power 2000: 22.42 hours (0.93 days)
15. BougeRV Rover 2000: 21.10 hours (0.88 days)
16. Dabbsson 2000L: 21.00 hours (0.88 days)
17. Grecell H2400: 17.75 hours (0.74 days)
18. GoalZero Yeedi 1500: 16.50 hours (0.69 days)
19. OSCAL Power Max 2400: 12.58 hours (0.52 days)

After testing eight, there’s only one extra-large portable power station we recommend for fridges

Extra-large (>2,200Wh) 

1. Fossibot 3600 Pro: 44.65 hours (1.86 days) 
2. Oupes Mega 5: 43.72 hours (1.82 days)
3. Jackery Home Power 3600 Plus: 38.58 hours (1.61 days)
4. Jackery Home Power 3000: 32.05 hours (1.34 days)
5. Bluetti Apex 300: 30.43 hours (1.27 days)
6. Anker Solix F3000: 28.97 hours (1.21 days)
7. Pecron E3600LFP: 28.15 hours (1.17 days)
8. Anker Solix F3800 Plus: 25.68 hours (1.07 days)

The Fossibot 3600 Pro is the best power station for keeping your fridge running. It kept our test fridge running for 44.65 hours (1.86 days). That means you can get almost two days of cooling during a power outage if you own the 3600 Pro. It’s also remarkably power-efficient. Even though the Oupes Mega 5 had a much larger measured watt-hour (4,352.86Wh compared to the Fossibot’s 3,293.74Wh), the Oupes wasted an incredible 1,730.22Wh just to keep its inverter running. 

This resulted in a 39.75% reduction in efficiency for the Oupes Mega 5. Meanwhile, the Fossibot only lost 860.03Wh to overhead (a 26.11% reduction), allowing it to power the fridge for almost an hour longer despite its smaller battery. This shows better power efficiency when handling the cycling loads of a refrigerator.

The Oupes Mega 5 comes a close second in the extra-large category, offering 43.72 hours (or 1.82 days) of power. On paper, while these models sound like they’re in a dead heat, it actually speaks poorly of the much larger Mega 5, which only has 4,352.86watt-hours, according to our measurements, despite what it claims on its box.  

Contrast this with the 3,293.74Wh measured wattage of the Fossibot 3600 Pro. That means, despite having a massive 5,040Wh capacity on paper, the Oupes Mega 5 actually loses a huge chunk of it in real-world use, making it inefficient for running the cycling loads of a typical refrigerator. 

After the Oupes Mega 5, our list starts to separate into more distinct winners. The Jackery Home Power 36000 Plus lasts 38.58 hours (1.61 days), while the Home Power 3000 lasts 32.05 hours (1.34 days). This is to be expected as a function of size and capacity, since each subsequent unit, such as the Bluetti Apex 300, had lower measured watt-hours and capacity than the preceding model. 

The large portable power stations that punch above their weight

Large (1,300–2,199Wh

1. Bluetti AC200L: 29.27 hours (1.22 days)
2. Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2: 27.40 hours (1.14 days)
3. Bluetti Elite 200: 26.32 hours (1.10 days)
4. Bluetti FridgePower: 23.43 hours (0.98 days)
5. ETAKER M2000: 22.48 hours (0.94 days)
6. DJI Power 2000: 22.42 hours (0.93 days)
7. BougeRV Rover2000: 21.10 hours (0.88 days)
8. Dabbsson 2000L: 21.00 hours (0.88 days)
9. Grecell H2400: 17.75 hours (0.74 days)
10. GoalZero Yeedi 1500: 16.50 hours (0.69 days)
11. OSCAL Power Max 2400: 12.58 hours (0.52 days)

If you’re looking for a smaller portable power station that can still keep your fridge and other key home appliances running, look no further than the Bluetti AC200L. With a capacity of just 2,048Wh, it ran the fridge for 29.27 hours.

It completely outclassed several XL units with significantly larger batteries, including the Anker Solix F3000 (3,072Wh), which lasted 28.97 hours, the Pecron E3600LFP (3,072Wh), which lasted 28.15 hours and the Anker Solix F3800 Plus (3,840Wh), which lasted 25.68 hours. 

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It led the large category by a solid margin, beating out the Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 (27.40 hours) and the Bluetti Elite 200 (26.32 hours). 

However, the Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 is worth considering as well. Also offering a 2,048Wh capacity, it achieved 27.40 hours of runtime, comfortably outlasting the XL Anker Solix F3800 Plus despite having nearly half the battery size on paper.

How much power/wattage do you really need to run your key home appliances? 

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Watch this: Portable Power 101: Solar ‘Generators’ Explained

04:02

Our lab testing shows that you may not need as much power or wattage in your portable power stations as you might think. It all comes down to what you’re trying to power. 

“In plain terms, 80% of users’ actual emergency power needs fall under 200W,” Sean Tan, PR manager at Anker Solix, said, referencing data from a survey of 759 Anker power station customers. “Fridges, Wi-Fi routers, lights, phone/laptop charging. Not air conditioners. Not power tools. The ‘wattage arms race’ has been optimizing for the 20% edge cases while the 80% majority pays a premium for capability they never use.” 

For fridges specifically, you need to consider that they’re intermittent loads. That means they cycle on and off, drawing power heavily for short periods and then entering a low-power standby mode. Because of this, a power station’s inverter efficiency and self-consumption (idle draw) matter more than just battery size. That’s why a portable power station such as the Fossibot F3600 Pro can beat something like the Oupes Mega 5, which looks larger on paper in terms of capacity. 

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“We generally recommend a 1kw or 2kw power station for common kitchen appliances such as refrigerators, microwaves and coffee makers,” said Brian Essenmacher, head of North American business development for EcoFlow. “These mid-sized units can typically power a fridge for a half day or full day.” 

“A smaller 10- to 15-cubic foot refrigerator during a short four-hour outage may only require around a 1kWh power station,” said Marc Deng, R&D manager at Bluetti, concurring with the power estimate, though he pointed out that for US consumers, the requirement may be on the higher end. “But the reality for many American households is different. Larger French-door and side-by-side refrigerators are often in the 18- to 28-cubic-foot range, with typical power consumption around 80 to 190W. For families preparing for longer outages caused by hurricanes, winter storms or grid failures, around 2kWh becomes a much more practical starting point.” 

What you need to know before buying a power station for a fridge

“The biggest trap is looking at capacity alone,” said Tan. “Capacity tells you how much energy is stored, not how much actually reaches the device.” He points to two things that matter more: light-load efficiency and idle consumption. “A home fridge runs at 100–200W, cycling on and off. Most of the time the power station is operating well below its rated output. Efficiency at these light loads varies dramatically between units.” As more idle consumption, “When the fridge compressor is off, the power station is essentially sitting idle, but still burning power. Industry typical idle draw is 15–20W. That adds up fast.” 

Those looking for a reliable emergency fridge backup should prioritize low idle power consumption and high small-load efficiency over buying the largest, heaviest battery available. A well-optimized 2,000Wh unit can easily outlast a poorly optimized over 3,000Wh unit, as our data shows. By default, all portable power stations waste some energy; the key is to find the one that wastes the least, while also providing stable power. 

Ideally, you also want one with an uninterruptible power supply (or UPS), which helps maintain stable, continuous power. “Modern refrigerators often rely on electronic controls and variable-frequency compressors, which are designed to operate continuously under stable power conditions,” said Marc Deng, R&D manager at Bluetti. “A good rule of thumb is that the UPS transition time should be below 20 milliseconds, with around 10 milliseconds being ideal. If the transfer is too slow, the refrigerator’s internal electronics may reset, causing the compressor and control system to restart unnecessarily. Over time, repeated interruptions can create additional stress on the appliance.” 

It’s also important not to overlook the surge power stat that many portable power stations advertise. Deng pointed out that depending on the refrigerator model, the startup surge can range from around 600W to well over 1,200W. “Surge power matters a lot,” Tan said. “Compressor startup pulls several times the running wattage. A station needs 2,500–3,000W peak to reliably handle most residential fridges.” 

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You also need to consider the percentage of energy wasted as overhead. The Anker Solix F3800 Plus wasted 46.63% of its energy just keeping itself running, which explains its short runtime. The Pecron E3600LFP had the lowest overhead loss with a tiny 15.75% reduction, while other highly efficient units included the Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 (18.21% loss) and the Bluetti AC200L (22.16% loss). These low-loss units ensure that power actually reaches the refrigerator rather than being lost as internal heat. 

In the XL category, our undisputed winner is the Fossibot F3600 Pro, which is $2,600 at full price, but frequently on sale for less. It lasted the longest and wasted the least energy in the XL category. For the large power stations, our winner is the Bluetti AC200L. It punched above its size and power capacity, offering excellent efficiency and the longest fridge runtime of any large portable power station. 

Do you need a portable power station specially designed for fridges?

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It’s worth noting that there’s a new category of portable power stations, with slim models designed to sit on or be mounted behind a fridge. Examples include the new Bluetti FridgePower and the Jackery FridgeGuard, both of which I’m testing at home, while Anker’s Solix S2000 is a more traditional take on the capability. 

Of these, we’ve only been able to run lab tests on the FridgePower, and the results are impressive. It falls into the upper tier of large portable power, keeping our test fridge running 23.43 hours (0.98 days), so it lasts nearly a full day. Of its 1,621.09Wh measured capacity, the FridgePower only lost 328.08Wh (a 20.24% reduction) to internal inverter overhead. This compares favorably with other, more efficient models. 

While it won’t keep the fridge running for multiple days, even the bulky Fossibot 3600 Pro is hard-pressed to do that. The design is its biggest selling point: The FridgePower is slim, lightweight and can be out of sight and out of mind, unlike hooking up your fridge to a traditional power station. So while it’s not required to power a fridge, the FridgePower won’t look out of place in your kitchen and it provides sufficient power to get you through an outage. 

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is warning that attackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in the iCagenda and Balbooa Forms extensions for Joomla to achieve remote code execution through arbitrary file uploads.

The agency has categorized the flaws as a maximum priority, ordering federal agencies to apply available security updates and/or mitigations within three days, with the deadline set for today.

The first flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-48939, is an arbitrary file upload flaw impacting the iCagenda extension used for registering and scheduling events and creating calendars.

An attacker can exploit the vulnerability to upload arbitrary files to the web server, including PHP scripts, which can lead to data theft, web shell installation, and complete website compromise by achieving remote code execution (RCE).

“iCagenda contains an unrestricted upload of file with dangerous type vulnerability that allows the upload of arbitrary files in the file attachment feature, ultimately resulting in PHP code upload and execution,” CISA warns in its entry in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

The second flaw added to KEV is CVE-2026-56291, an arbitrary file upload issue in the Balbooa Forms extension for Joomla.

Balbooa Forms is a drag-and-drop form builder for creating contact forms on Joomla sites, with file upload support.

According to CISA, this functionality can be used to upload dangerous file types, such as executable files, leading to RCE and full website takeover.

According to website management and security platform mySites.guru, both flaws were exploited in automated attacks before vendors released a patch.

For iCagenda, attacks were observed just a few hours before the release of version 4.0.8, which addressed CVE-2026-48939.

The management service says that the CVE-2026-56291 vulnerability in Balbooa Forms was exploited as a zero-day, leveraged in attacks since July 8, a day before the vendor released a fix for the issue.

Website administrators managing Joomla sites should check for the presence of iCagenda and Balbooa Forms and take action where needed to protect their assets.

The flaws are fixed in iCagenda version 4.0.8 and 3.9.15, released on June 15-16, and Balbooa Forms version 2.4.1, released on July 9.

Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.

The Picus whitepaper shows how breach and attack simulation tests your SIEM and EDR rules so threats stop slipping by detection.

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The Manhattan Aero might just be the streaming device you’re looking for. Especially if you want live TV without an aerial, as well as must-have streaming apps, 4K playback and user-friendly software.

The Manhattan Aero is a small streaming box packed with just about all of the essentials for UK viewers — more than 450 channels via Freely, as well as Netflix, Prime Video and all that good stuff. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection and a TV, and you’re good to go. But is it actually worth buying? Here are my thoughts after a few days testing it out for myself.

On this week’s episode of the Smart Home Insider podcast, we review an innovative light that runs via coaxial cable and answer a pile of listener questions.

Since the last episode, developers received the third developer beta of Apple’s 27-branded updates. Within the release notes of macOS 27, it was revealed Apple had seemingly decided on pricing for some of its AI-powered features.

To use Apple Intelligence with Apple Home, users will need to have at least the 2TB iCloud+ plan. This is also the plan that unlocks unlimited cameras for HomeKit Secure Video recording.

Otherwise, users will be able to view their cameras and use the old descriptions that relied solely on on-device AI recognition. The new AI natural language summaries are far more useable, but rely on Apple’s cloud servers to process which explains the added cost.

Both Govee and Channel Master have released new floodlight options. The Govee model supports Matter, 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, and has 3,000 lumens of output.

The Channel Master version is Apple Home exclusively, and we had one in the studio to test. We walk through its performance, impressive all-metal build quality, and why its coaxial power supply is so unique during the review.

The remainder of the episode was dedicated to answering listener questions that had been received since the last episode. We had six questions, some of them were questions about the podcast itself and others were smart home-related.

Eric had one of the more in-depth questions, asking what is the best budget-friendly indoor camera where Apple Home or Matter isn’t a strict requirement. We go through several options with various resolutions and features.

Sarah asked whether or not it is worth waiting for more Matter cameras to be released. In a similar vein as the last question, we try to go through the pros and cons of Matter cameras and the situations where you would need to seek them out.

Finally, our last big question was from Ben who inquired about how one would use Matter devices with multiple ecosystems. We go through why you’d want to, how to commission the devices on each ecosystem, and how it is changing with the latest version of Matter.

Links from the Smart Home Insider podcast

Those interested in sponsoring the show can reach out to us at [email protected]

Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast. Just say, “Hey, Siri,” to your HomePod mini and ask it, and our latest Smart Home Insider episode too. If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple’s Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.

If you use Instagram, WhatsApp, or iMessage, you need to know what is happening on these platforms. Australia’s online safety regulator, eSafety, has published a new transparency report, and the findings are grim. 

As reported by The Guardian, the regulator found significant gaps in how the biggest tech companies are handling online sexual extortion and child sexual exploitation, even as the reports keep climbing.

Which apps are criminals actively using for sextortion?

Between July and December 2025, eSafety received over 2,000 sexual extortion complaints. Instagram and WhatsApp were named in more than 1,300 of them combined, making them the most cited platforms by a wide margin.

Men aged 18 to 24 filed the most complaints of any group, with roughly 800 reports. But the regulator noted that younger teens are increasingly in the crosshairs, and for users under 18, Apple’s iMessage and Snapchat were the services most often tied to these threats.

The messages victims receive are chilling. The regulator cited lines like “I have everything to ruin your life” and “only money can help you now to end this peacefully.”

Why aren’t the platforms stopping this?

The frustrating part is that the technology to catch this already exists. Language analysis can flag the well-worn coercion scripts these criminals reuse, and detection tools can monitor live streams and video calls. eSafety found most platforms are simply not using them. Microsoft was the only company that reported using both.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said offenders are exploiting weak detection systems and inconsistent safeguards to hop between services and escalate the harm.

University of Sydney academic Dr Joanne Gray argued the companies remain stuck in reactive mode. “They are taking it down when they find it or are made aware of it, but they are not doing enough to prevent it from being there in the first place,” she said.

It’s clear that these companies need to do better to protect our children. They need to treat them as people and not as revenue-generating assets. And since they are clearly failing to do so, stronger legislation is needed to hold them accountable and better protect children online.