Yeah not much has changed, it’s simple technology that was developed in 2005. Main innovations of the PAYGO model in recent times was the ability to use the payment data you collected to offer other types of loans. One of the previous biggest companies in the space now sells mobile phones using PAYGO.

Technically battery chemistry has obviously moved on but we are talking a device capacity similar to a medium power bank. How much innovation have you noticed in power banks recently?

Panels are big problem from a e-waste perspective as they very difficult to repair.

Batteries failures are repairable. Usually battery packs will be 2+ LFP 18650s or 32700s. If one cell goes bad the the whole pack goes but the others may be fine. Just need to test and match cells and you can make new packs.

I can’t remember exact recovery rate for cells, I think it is something like 40-60%.

Dealing with these batteries at end of life is a challenge, but that’s a global problem.

Still a lot of legacy Sealed Lead Acid batteries around but these are very recyclable.