(File photo)

Billions of RMB have been injected into a new business – shared public phone chargers on the streets of China, offering portable chargers or USB ports for cell phones with low battery. But along with that investment comes doubt.

By May 8, three leading companies offering public phone-charging services had collected 1.2 billion RMB of investment in just 40 days. That amount is five times the capital invested in shared bikes in 2015. The largest investment sum was collected by Xiaodian Technology, which received 500 million RMB after three rounds from investors including Tencent, Yicai.com reported.

Investors wishing to test the waters of shared chargers also include Alibaba, IDG Capital, Redpoint Ventures and GSR Ventures. However, despite the energetic flow of cash, doubts still hover over the new business mode.

Right after Jumei Youpin announced its 300-million-RMB purchase of Shenzhen-based shared charger company Jiedian Technology on May 5, Wang Sicong, son of China’s richest man Wang Jianlin, joked on WeChat that he would “eat shit if the [business mode of] shared phone chargers made it.” His was the highest-profile and most aggressive attack on the sharing economy to date.

While almost everyone agrees that reliance on cell phones unavoidably leads to reliance on cell phone chargers, many netizens argue that shared chargers are not essential since people can simply carry their own portable chargers. In addition, a Xinhua.net editorial on May 9 pointed out that technology allowing for batteries to charge via Wi-Fi has been developing rapidly, and could even threaten the existence of traditional chargers, to say nothing of shared chargers.

According to Yicai, shared charger companies began to rise in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in 2014. Some larger companies have set up thousands of charging booths, while smaller ones often have hundreds.

The three leading companies are Laidian, Jiedian and Xiaodian, each featuring a slightly different mode of sharing. Laidian sets up booths containing dozens of chargers at transportation hubs and shopping centers, requiring customers to pay a 100-RMB deposit; Jiedian’s booths provide less than a dozen chargers, and are usually located in restaurants and bars. Xiaodian, meanwhile, installs chargers in the walls of karaoke rooms and hallways, Yicai reported. Charging usually costs 1 RMB per hour, and the first hour is free.