Shared powerbanks - another shared economy platform?

In a world where there’s an app for everything and everyone, sharing economy has been one of the terms that keep popping up – as if creating a short-term rental service was the solution for everything (there are even apps that let you rent other app sharing services for a small period – Sharinception). There’s a sharing economy platform for everything, and the most recent one (or the one that we’ll discuss) is the powerbank sharing economy.

What is powerbank sharing?

A shared-charged economy platform is a digital service, which allows you to rent portable phone chargers, for a short duration of time and pay-as-you-go. Amidst other existing services (and ways to do it), let’s use Brick as an example.

Brick is a Swedish app, that allows you to take a Brick (charger) from any of their different stations, charge your phone while you are on the go, and return them at your station of preference.

Why is shared powerbanks important?

We all have a phone charger, and there are many portable charger options, so why renting one? The oversimplified answer is life doesn’t really go as planned. In theory, you charge your phone at home, you play around with it, and when the battery runs out, then you charge it again. Sounds easy, right?

In real life, sometimes you forget to charge your phone the night before, or you don’t go around with your charger everywhere, or the bartender feels moody and does not want to be bothered to take a look at your phone. Also, is it even possible to carry your powerbank fully charged when you need it?

Well, in our experience these events happen more often than what we are willing to admit they do, so instead of asking ourselves whether we should or not rent a battery pack, we would like to ask if it is worth it to go through low-battery anxiety when you can rent a phone charger?

The final percentage

Powerbank sharing is the ugly little duck of shared economies. It doesn’t sound sexy, it seems unnecessary, and it lacks the glamour of other platforms, but in reality, powerbank sharing serves a universal purpose, helping people when life does not go as planned.

shared power bank