Engineering:Shared Power Bank
The shared power bank is a company-provided power bank that enables users to charge their cellphone or other electronic devices by paying the deposit and rental fees. The deposit can be returned to users’ accounts after they have returned the power banks. Shared power bank stations are mainly set in crowded places, such as shopping malls, restaurants, and airports. When people have low battery life on their electrical devices and forget to bring a charger, these shared power banks can provide a portable power supply.
Using process
The process of using shared power bank can be divided into four steps.
- Scan the QR code on the Shared power bank station.
- Sign up for Shared power bank account.
- Make a payment for deposit and rental fee.
- Check out and start charging.
When finished charging, users can return the power banks on nearest shared power bank station.
Rental fees
In China
Deposit: 100 RMB
Charge fee: 3 ~ 5 RMB / hour
In the US
Charge fee: 1 ~ 2 dollar/ hour
Company
| Monster Energy | Xiaodian | Jiedian | Plugo | CoCharge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | China | China | India | America |
How company makes profits[1]
- Companies who interest in shared power bank usually search for cheap battery supplies to minimise their cost.
- To maximise their profits, companies normally focus on city centre where has huge people traffic to set their shared power bank station and therefore enlarge the using rate.
- Rental fee is only a part of companies’ income.
- Companies gain their profits from investment using users’ deposit and from outside funding.
History
Shared power bank emerged during the fever of sharing economy and it is a subcategory of sharing economic.
In August, 2014, the first power bank company Laidian technology established and then other power bank companies established one after another.
In October, 2017, some of power bank companies started to quit. On October 11, 2017, Ledian ceasesed the operation.[2]
In April, 2021, China, report reveals that the number of shared power bank site has reached 4 millions and user base is over two hundred millions.[3]
Hidden danger
Spontaneous combustion
Since shared power banks contain a great energy density in a small volume and using frequency is relatively high, some of low quality power banks might combust spontaneously.
On April 23, 2019, a farm on Guangdong, China, burned into fire and some witnesses stated that the cause of this fire was a power bank station.[4]
On April 25, 2019, on Guangdong China, a power bank station in YiFangTianDi Shopping mall spontaneously burned into fire. Fortunately, due to shopping mall staff took emergency actions and dispersed the crowd rapidly, there is no casualty in this accident.
Spreading malware
On December 06, 2020, police in China warned that shared power bank might spread malware because some power banks of unknown origin might be implanted with Trojan virus.[5] To prevent this, users should not accept shared power banks of unknown origin and be vigilant when cellphone pops up "whether to trust this device" after plugs in power banks.
References
- ↑ https://www.techinasia.com/powerbank-sharing-can-make-money
- ↑ http://www.xinhuanet.com//politics/2017-10/22/c_1121836820.htm?baike
- ↑ https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/cyxw/2021-04-15/doc-ikmxzfmk6976610.shtml
- ↑ "自燃事故频发，共享充电宝 还能野蛮生长？-新华网". http://www.xinhuanet.com/info/2019-05/10/c_138047614.htm.
- ↑ https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2020/12/08/shared-power-banks-could-transmit-malware/
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