The $2 Rental Batteries Helping to Power South Africa

New York Times - WorldCenter-LeftEN 4 min read 100% complete by John Eligon and Joao SilvaJanuary 17, 2026 at 06:01 AM

AI Summary

long article 4 min

In Tembisa, South Africa, frequent power cuts are impacting residents and businesses. To address this, BP launched BPowerd in 2025, a program offering daily rental batteries charged by solar panels at gas stations. Residents like Anselmo Munghabe, a barber, rent these batteries, ranging from 300 to 1,000 watts, to power lights, appliances, and charge devices. This allows businesses to remain open and provides an income source by charging neighbors for electricity. The affordable battery rental system offers a solution for those lacking reliable power and the means to purchase their own solar panels in areas where the electrical grid is overloaded.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

John Eligon ×240% Joao Silva ×240% BPowerd 60% BP ×270% Johannesburg ×370% South Africa 80% Tembisa ×480% Anselmo Munghabe ×690%

Keywords

rental batteries 100% power cuts 80% south africa 70% electricity grid 60% solar-powered batteries 60% tembisa 50% energy access 50% bpowerd 50% energy poverty 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Positive

Score: 0.30

Source Transparency

Source

New York Times - World

Political Lean

Center-Left (-0.30)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

Tembisa

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

rental batteries power cuts south africa electricity grid solar-powered batteries tembisa energy access bpowerd energy poverty

Explore Full Topic Graph