How Much Does It Cost to Rent a Power Bank?

Most power bank rental networks in Europe charge somewhere between €1 and €3 for the first hour, with a maximum daily charge somewhere between €6 and €10. Brick does not publish one fixed number, because the price is set locally by whichever partner runs the stations in that city, not by a single European rate card. What is fixed is that the price shows up before you commit, on the station screen, in the app, or at checkout, so you never rent blind.

That answer is honest but not the whole story. Here is what actually drives the number you see, what a couple of other networks charge in public, and how Brick's own pricing mechanic works underneath.

What other networks charge

A few power bank sharing operators publish their rates directly, and the range is a useful anchor even if you never use their app.

One Barcelona-based network prices at €1 per 30 minutes, capped at €8 for a full day, so a six-hour rental still costs €8. A Dutch network charges €2 per hour through its app or €3 per hour at the card reader, capped at €6 or €9 a day depending on which route you use, plus a €30 hold released when the powerbank comes back.

The pattern across networks is consistent even where the exact numbers differ: a per-hour or per-half-hour rate, a cap so a long rental cannot run away from you, and a charge tied to the moment you return the powerbank rather than the moment you take it.

How Brick prices a rental

Brick runs the same shape of pricing, pay-as-you-go with a daily cap, but each partner sets the actual rate for their market. Here is what Brick has published about the mechanic itself, rather than the number:

• A reservation, not an upfront charge. Starting a rental places a hold on your card for the value of roughly the first hour. That is not a charge. It is released or adjusted once the powerbank is returned and the real fee is worked out. This is different from a deposit that gets charged upfront and refunded later; a reservation is a hold that converts into the actual amount owed.
• You pay for what you used. The fee is worked out per time increment (30 or 60 minutes depending on the market) up to a daily cap Brick has given as an example of €5, after which the price stays flat for the rest of that 24-hour window.
• Short rentals are free. Return the powerbank inside 3 minutes and Brick charges nothing; the held amount goes straight back to your card.
• Keeping it costs a fixed, capped amount. If a powerbank is not returned within 5 days, it is treated as purchased at a flat replacement price. Brick has published €50 as that figure in one market (Sweden), and the company caps purchase charges at €50 everywhere specifically so a forgotten rental never turns into an open-ended bill.

None of that tells you what a 45-minute charge costs at a specific bar tonight, because that number is the partner's to set. It does tell you the shape of the bill: a hold, not a charge, a cap on how high it can go, and a clear ceiling if the powerbank never comes back.

Card, app, or tap: does the payment method change the price?

Brick supports three ways to start a rental: the app, a web checkout with no app install (sometimes called appless), and tapping a contactless card or phone directly on the station's card reader to tap-to-rent. The pricing mechanic (reservation, per-interval fee, daily cap) is the same across all three. What can differ is the size of the reservation hold itself, since Brick allows a different hold amount for the app and web flow versus the card-present flow at the reader, both partner-configurable. Either way, the terms are shown before you confirm, not after.

What if something goes wrong

Brick's stated service position is a full refund on any legitimate billing issue: if a rental fails, doubles up, or a powerbank has a fault, the fix is a refund rather than a guest having to argue with venue staff who cannot do anything about a payment anyway. That is worth knowing before you rent, because it means the worst case on a bad rental is your money back, not a dispute.

Renting versus owning one

If you are only ever charging for an hour at a bar or a festival, renting almost always beats buying, since a decent power bank of your own runs $26 to $200 at retail and still needs to be carried, charged, and remembered. The full breakdown of when renting wins and when owning one does is in Brick's renting-vs-buying comparison.

FAQ

Is there a deposit to rent a power bank from Brick?
Not on a standard pay-as-you-go rental. Brick places a reservation hold rather than charging a deposit upfront; the hold is resolved into the real fee once you return the powerbank. Deposits (charged upfront, refunded on return) are used for festival passes, a different product from a regular rental at a venue.

What happens if I don't return the powerbank?
You can hold it for up to 5 days. After that, it counts as purchased and you are charged a flat replacement price, published as €50 in Sweden and capped at €50 across markets, so the bill cannot keep climbing.

Does the price change from city to city?
Yes. Brick partners set pricing per market, so the per-hour rate and daily cap you see in one city will not necessarily match another. The price is always shown on the station or in the app before you rent.

Is renting a power bank cheaper than buying one?
For occasional use, yes, since even a short rental costs a fraction of a new power bank's retail price. See the full renting-vs-buying comparison for the break-even math.

How do I start a rental?
Scan the QR code on any station with the app, a browser (no app needed), or tap a contactless card on the station's card reader. The step-by-step flow for each method is in how to rent a power bank.

Ready to see the price at a station near you? Find a Brick powerbank to rent.