Autonomous, socket-free locker infrastructure for open networks and smart cities

Taking the power dependency out of the network

Traditional parcel lockers come with a hidden tax: they need power. That means cabling, site preparation, planning approvals, and dependency on the property owner's willingness to provide a connection. In dense urban environments, this quietly limits where lockers can go.

Remove the electrical dependency and the network economics change — so does the conversation with the city. The same locker still runs on a grid connection wherever one is available: it is one product covering both cases, not a separate off-grid line to build and service.

The challenge

An open multi-operator network in Geneva needed lockers that could be deployed flexibly across the city — sidewalks, plazas, transit-adjacent locations, wherever foot traffic was — without waiting for electrical infrastructure.

Strict space, mobility, and aesthetic requirements made things harder. The locker had to be compact, visually appropriate for the public realm, modular enough to fit varied sites, and still energetically autonomous through Geneva's winters and cloudy stretches.

The hardest part wasn't going off-grid. It was running an energy-hungry interface — a 10" touchscreen — entirely on solar and battery, indefinitely.

How we approached it

We engineered the locker from scratch around energy autonomy. Two solar panels integrated into the locker structure. Dual-battery configuration for storage and redundancy. Advanced power management balancing charge and consumption. The result: 90 days of operation on battery power alone through a Geneva winter — three months when daylight is shortest and the average temperature sits just above freezing.

Compartment dimensions were customized to real parcel size requirements. The modular design meant placement needed minimal site preparation. And because the locker was generating more solar energy than it consumed during summer, the excess was directed to bike charging at the location — turning a parcel point into a smart city touchpoint with additional civic value.

Site flexibility changes network economics. Locations that were previously impossible — public squares, parks, transit-adjacent corners — become available. And with no trench, no cable run and no utility approval in the critical path, launching a site costs and takes around four times less than a grid-connected build. The locker stops being a utility consumer and becomes a small contributor to the urban energy ecosystem.