How to start a power bank rental business

What the business actually is

A power bank rental business puts self-service charging stations in places where people run out of battery, and earns when they borrow one. The customer scans the code on the machine or uses the app, the machine releases one power bank, and they return it to any station in the network when they are done — not necessarily the one they took it from.

That last detail is the whole model. A charger that must go back to the machine it came from is a locker. A charger that can be returned anywhere is a network, and a network gets more useful to every customer each time an operator adds a location. It is also why density matters more than coverage: ten machines in one city beat ten machines spread across ten cities.

The four decisions, before you spend anything

Almost every question a new operator asks resolves into one of four decisions. Make them in this order, because each one narrows the next.

1. 1Which model you operate underIndependent operator, partner in someone else’s network, or white label. Independent means you own the customer and the brand and you also build everything. Joining a network means you inherit the software, the support and the return-anywhere effect, and you agree terms with whoever runs it.
2. 2What hardware you buySlot count and screen size are the two decisions that matter, and they follow the room rather than your budget. A countertop 8-slot suits a host stand or a bar top. A 20-slot floor unit suits a busy room with steady turnover. A 40-slot unit with a large screen suits high-traffic sites where the screen itself is worth something.
3. 3Where the machines goThis is the decision that actually determines whether the business works, and it is the one most first-time operators rush. See the placement section below.
4. 4How you price and what you keepRental pricing is set per venue, not fixed across a network, and the split between you and the venue is a commercial negotiation. Decide your floor before you walk into the first meeting rather than during it.

How a rental works, end to end

1. 1The customer starts the rentalThey scan the code on the machine or use the app. No staff member is involved and nobody has to ask permission.
2. 2The machine releases one power bankOne rental dispenses exactly one unit, with the common cable types built into the bank rather than a loose cable that goes missing.
3. 3They charge while they carry onThe point of a portable bank rather than a wall dock is that the customer is not tethered to a corner of the room. They stay at the table, in the gym, on the floor.
4. 4They return it to any stationSame venue or a different one. The machine registers the return and the rental closes automatically.
5. 5The station reports itselfStations are connected, so you can see status remotely rather than driving to a venue to find out whether it is working.

Choosing hardware: slots and screen

Machines are usually described by slot count — how many power banks they hold — and by the size of the screen on the front. Ampz builds three: an 8-slot countertop unit, a 20-slot floor unit, and a 40-slot unit with a large screen. The banks are 7,500 mAh, which is a full phone charge with room to spare for most handsets.

Two things people get wrong here. The first is buying slot count for the room they hope to have rather than the room they have signed — an under-used 40-slot machine is capital sitting still. The second is treating the screen as decoration. On a high-traffic site the screen is a second reason the machine is there, and it can matter as much as the rentals.

How to judge a location

This is the part that decides the business. Four tests, and a room needs to pass all four rather than three:

1. 1People stay long enough to need chargeA room where the average visit is twenty minutes will not produce rentals no matter how busy it is. Bars, gyms, salons, waiting rooms, campuses and hotels work because people are there for hours.
2. 2The phone is doing workPaying, photographing, streaming, navigating, waiting on a call. Somewhere the phone matters is somewhere a dead battery is a problem worth paying to solve.
3. 3Staff will not have to explain itThe machine should sit where a guest sees it and understands it without asking. Behind a counter or around a corner is a machine nobody rents from.
4. 4The venue actually wants itA venue that agreed to be polite will not mention it to anyone. A venue that sees why it helps their guests will point people at it, and that difference shows up in the numbers within a month.

Foot traffic on its own is the weakest signal of the four, which surprises people. A train station concourse has enormous traffic and almost nobody in it has the twenty spare seconds and the reason to start a rental. A mid-sized bar on a Friday has a fraction of the footfall and far more rentals.

Where the money comes from

There are three revenue lines in this model and new operators usually only plan for the first one:

1. 1RentalsThe obvious one. A customer pays to borrow a bank. Pricing is set per venue rather than fixed across a network, because what a hotel lobby supports and what a neighbourhood gym supports are not the same number.
2. 2The screenEvery station carries a screen. It can promote the venue’s own offers, or it can carry a sponsor. On the right sites this is not a rounding error next to the rentals.
3. 3The network itselfEach location you add makes every other location more useful, because a customer can return anywhere. This is the line that compounds, and it is the reason operators chase density in one area rather than a flag in every city.

We deliberately do not publish revenue projections here. Any number that does not know your venue, your city and your terms is a guess dressed as a forecast, and the internet is full of them. If you want a projection for a specific room, the honest way to get one is to talk about that room.

Five ways operators lose their first year

1. 1Buying hardware before signing venuesThe most common and the most expensive. Machines in storage earn nothing and the money is already spent. Sign the room, then order the machine for it.
2. 2Chasing footfall instead of dwell timeBusy is not the same as staying. See the placement tests above.
3. 3Spreading thin across citiesReturn-anywhere only means something where there is somewhere else to return to. Density first.
4. 4Signing a venue that is indifferentA venue that never mentions the machine is a machine nobody sees. Enthusiasm at the signing meeting is a real predictor.
5. 5Treating it as passive from day oneIt becomes low-effort once machines are placed and running. Getting there is sales work, and pretending otherwise is how people quit in month three.

Where Ampz fits

Ampz supplies the machines and runs the network behind them, and works with operators who want to place them. You can buy stations outright and keep the rentals, or work with us under one of the other partnership models — the right one depends on how much capital you want to put in and how much of the operation you want to own.

There is no service area and no waitlist. If you want machines somewhere, that is where they go. Exact terms, hardware specifications and pricing are set per situation, so the fastest way to get real numbers for your plan is to ask for them directly.

If you are approaching this from the other side — you run a venue and you want a station in it rather than a business around it — the companion guide is phone charging stations for bars and restaurants.

Thinking about running stations?

Tell us the rooms you have in mind and we will tell you honestly whether they are worth a machine — including when the answer is no.