Cars to batteries: is China’s sharing economy in bubble territory?
First it was cars, then it was bikes, now it’s the battery’s turn to transform China’s sharing economy. Some fear that’s a trend too far
Yukin Pang, a public relations specialist in Shenzhen, relies on her iPhone for everything from responding to work emails to paying her taxi bill.
But that frequent use has a side effect that will be familiar to smartphone users worldwide: a short battery life that leaves the 28-year-old fretting about when the next ill-timed power outage will strike.
While she has several battery banks, she rarely carries them, either forgetting to pick them up or leaving them at home due to their bulk and weight. Instead, when she is on the go and her battery runs low, she runs to the nearest restaurant in the hope of borrowing a charger.
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That’s a hassle that’s recently disappeared for Pang, who has discovered one of the latest wonders of China’s sharing economy – a battery bank rental service.
“It’s really convenient,” Pang gushes. “I think it’s a great idea, and I have seen many others using the service, too.”
Chinese investors are betting that customers like Pang will help to make battery charging services the next logical step in the sharing economy – following the emergence of ride-hailing apps such as Uber and the seemingly ubiquitous bike-sharing schemes that now exist everywhere from Beijing and Shanghai to Hangzhou (杭州) and Chengdu ( 成都 ).
