Portable Charger Sharing Industry Appears to Have a Better Future Than Bike Sharing – But Still Holds Risks

With the convenience of mobile payments, many Chinese people no longer carry a wallet when going out, just their phone and keys. However, more frequent use of your phone means you need to charge it more often… so then while they didn’t have to carry a wallet, they always had to carry a portable charger to keep their phones from running out of battery – not a great compromise. 

Now with the popularity of rentable chargers, people are truly freeing themselves. According to a charger-sharing report published by Trustdata, over 200M people have used rentable chargers over 50 times a year, which means they spend money on rentable chargers once a week on average.

Rentable chargers are everywhere in China. They are in shopping malls, restaurants, hotels and scenic spots. They are also very easy to rent. Users don’t have to download an app and they don’t have to pay a deposit either. According to iMedia, the number of portable charger users reached 305M in 2019. Even with the coronavirus situation in 2020, there were 281 new rentable charger companies. Top runners in the industry are Jiedian (街电), Energy Monster (怪兽) and Meituan (美团).

Will charger-sharing face the same fate as the bike-share industry? 

When China’s bike-sharing industry first launched, it was very welcomed as it solved the issue of “the last kilometer”, which often means the distance from the subway station to home. It indeed brought lots of convenience for people. But it also caused a lot of waste and chaos as too many brands flooded the market. I’m sure many of you have seen the famous images of mountains of broken bikes in cities. 

Given their size, the rentable charger situation is better, but there are still some problems that exist, mainly security related. For example a virus could be installed on the charger and when users are charging their phones, their data could be stolen. A woman located in Guangzhou once used a rented charger, and half an hour later, she got a phone call from what said it was her bank asking her to transfer 5,000 RMB to an account.

Other than information security issues, portable chargers can also be physically unsafe. There were a few reports saying the whole set, the machine that dispenses the chargers plus the chargers themselves, ignited. Some owners found out in time and saved themselves while some were not lucky and the whole set burnt overnight, ruining his 200-square-meter store.

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