The smart locker industry has seen some attempts to launch battery-powered locker solutions as they promise to reduce location limitations and increase efficiency. All of them sacrifice some, or even most, of the usual features that provide a good experience to the user. Screenless, app-dependent, or no internet access are usually cut to prolong battery-life.
Bloq.it has just launched NEXT, a battery-powered smart locker that offers all the features of an electrical locker, with all of the freedom and efficiency of deployment of a battery locker. Is this the answer the industry has been looking for?
According to Bloq.it’s CEO, Miha Jagodic “NEXT comes as a natural step for us as we knew we wanted to create a solution that offered our clients more flexibility, with the same capabilities”.
This new product by Bloq.it is set to disrupt the market with its swappable battery system, using batteries that can last up to 2 years per charge and can easily be replaced with a fully charged one in seconds. This means it can operate virtually anywhere, either in sunlit or shaded areas, dense urban centres or remote populations.
“All our solutions are carefully designed to answer the actual needs of the industry. We didn’t need to be the first battery-powered solution in the market, we wanted to provide the best one“ says Bruno Figueiredo, Bloq.it Hardware Product Manager.
Bloq.it NEXT was engineered in-house by Bloq.it product team and is manufactured in Europe, ensuring high-quality construction that results in a reliable product, reducing maintenance costs. Being built geographically close to its main markets also bypasses all global supply-chain risks.
Ricardo Carvalho, CTO at Bloq.it notes “we see Bloq.it NEXT becoming the new industry-standard as it combines all the advantages of energy-driven smart lockers with the operational efficiency of off-grid smart lockers. You get the best of both worlds. We prioritised our partners’ user experience, empowering efficient operations for couriers, while making sure the solution is adaptable enough to provide a pleasant and customizable user experience to the final user.”
NEXT’s integrated concrete base enables deployment in under 15 minutes, removing the need for outdoor site preparation, eliminating transport complications and reducing deployment costs up to 88%. “We know that site preparation is one of our clients’ biggest pains as it delays expansion and complicates processes, so it was important for us to solve this. With NEXT, you simply need to select a location and place the locker. It’s that simple”, says João Lopes, Bloq.it’s CRO.
Bloq.it NEXT was launched on June 5th at Deliver Europe 24’, where attendees were able to see it first-hand and experience the battery-swap process. Bloq.it NEXT is now out in the market and accepting more orders.
For more information about NEXT, visit bloq.it/next