How to increase your Battery in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

Link upgrades the Battery in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
(Image credit: Nintendo)

The Zelda Tears of the Kingdom battery needs to be increased with upgrades obtained by giving over Crystallized Charges to the Crystal Refinery - something that's hardly an intuitive process. Still, it's absolutely worth doing - any vehicle with even the slightest mechanical component in TOTK requires battery power to function, and running out of energy could cause your makeshift car to rattle to a halt... or you flying machine to plummet out of the sky, Looney Tunes style.

With that in mind, we've put together this guide on the Zonai Energy Cell batteries in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom here - though keep in mind that in a pinch, you can always use Zonai Charges for a little extra temporary power. Used correctly, those items might save your life!

How to increase battery in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

Location of the Crystal Refinery for battery upgrades in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

(Image credit: Nintendo)

To increase your battery life and power in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, here's the basic process laid out clearly:

  1. Find Crystallized Charges across the map
  2. Take those Crystallized Charges to the Crystal Refinery in Lookout Landing
  3. The Steward Construct will turn those Charges into Energy Wells
  4. Your battery can now run for longer!

The Crystal Refinery is found just North of Lookout Landing, marked on the map and just above the Northern wall of the outpost. There's a little rock with a machine and a Steward Construct on top - once you have 100 Crystallized Charges or more, head up there and talk to the Construct.

The Construct will turn your Charges into Energy Wells, which are the specific units of power your Zonai Energy Cells use. 100 Crystallized Charges is turned into one well, with three Energy Wells per "battery" of power. Of course, that doesn't mean much if you can't find charges.

How to get Crystallized Charges

Link buys Crystallized Charges for battery upgrades in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Crystallized Charges in Tears of the Kingdom can be obtained in the following ways:

  • Defeating certain bosses like Flux Constructs and Frox
  • Found in chests in abandoned mines in the Depths
  • Purchased from Steward Constructs in Forges in the Depths
  • Found in chests in Yiga Outposts in the Depths

Clearly the Depths are the main place to go if you want Crystallized Charges. We certainly recommend empting the supply of any Steward Constructs refining Crystallized Charges - you can buy their stock not with Rupees, but with Zonaite, which is also readily available in deposits down there (though we do have a Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Rupees guides if you are feeling short of cash). Basically, the longer you spend in the Depths, the more likely you are to come up with a load of Crystallized Charges - and therefore battery upgrades. If you want help with the whole Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Depths area - which is fair, it's pretty dangerous - our guide will help lay it out for you.

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Joel Franey
Guides Writer

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.

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