Gilles Caron is the people person at Best Batteries: communication, partnerships, the link with brands and suppliers. But behind the communications manager's suit hides a car enthusiast who never really left the family garage where he grew up, surrounded by engines and batteries. It was only natural that he became the site's go-to tester for car equipment: jump starters, chargers, auxiliary batteries, inverters, everything that connects portable power to the world of the road.
His method bears the mark of his playing field: he likes products that have to prove themselves in unforgiving conditions, on a frosty morning, in a car park, at the edge of a country road. He checks compatibility with petrol, diesel and hybrid engines, puts the clamps and safety features through their paces (reverse polarity, short circuit), and measures how they really hold up over time. His role in partnerships also gives him a keen read on the market: he can tell the brands that genuinely innovate from those that merely follow, and that feeds his articles on bidirectional charging or choosing a jump starter.
On Au Frais, he extends this expertise in 12-volt power and mobility to compressor cool boxes, where he assesses cooling speed, consumption and noise level. Two worlds, one obsession: power that follows the user on the move.
A driver at heart, keen on rallying and off-road raids, Gilles often tests his gear in the boot of his own car, so much so that the team nicknames him the "rolling laboratory". A photographer in his spare time, he is also the one who shoots part of the site's product visuals. Since his divorce he spends Wednesdays with his daughter, who has inherited his little home-made game: guessing, by hand, the weight of a battery.
Your electric car can now feed its energy back to your home, the grid or your devices. V2G, V2H, V2L: we explain everything about bidirectional charging, how to benefit from it today, and why it is a revolution for portable power.
Published on July 15, 2026 by Gilles
A flat car battery, on a winter morning, with no one to help you out: the jump starter turns that nightmare into a thirty-second affair. You just have to pick a model that is powerful enough and genuinely safe. Here is our selection of the best jump starters, from the pocket compact to the beast for big diesel engines.
Published on July 16, 2026 by Gilles
To be self-sufficient in electricity on the road, two schools compete: the portable power station, silent and clean, and the generator, enduring but noisy. Which one should you choose for your motorhome or van? We weigh the pros and cons, use by use.
Published on July 9, 2026 by Gilles
Updated on July 23, 2026