Why batteries are redundant in digital smart-locks
When managing critical infrastructure with lots of sites spread out over a wide area, digital smart locks are a must-have for security and operational reasons. Smart locks can be classified into two groups: keyless and key-based. In a recent blog post, I explained why key-based digital smart locks are impractical. But keyless smart locks can be even worse if they are battery powered.
Since the arrival of battery-free keyless smart locks with wireless charging technology (NFC), there is no added value in having a battery. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Let’s see why:
- You need to replace batteries. Critical infrastructure managers should be focusing on the infrastructure, not on the locks in their infrastructure.
- Your OPEX (OPerational EXpenses) will explode. Imagine you have 5,000 sites and, on average, you need 1 hour to visit a site (and the same time to return). That means you will need to use 10,000 man hours (more than one year) just for replacing batteries. And this is without considering the cost of traveling to the site and not being able to access it because the battery is dead.
- You generate polluting battery waste. Why not help save the planet? In the example above, if you place 5,000 batteries one on top of the other, they will reach a height of 1,5 times the height of the Empire State building in New York. Think about that.
- Batteries are unreliable in extreme weather conditions. No manufacturer can guarantee the battery duration because it depends on the weather conditions. Is the lock exposed heavily to the sun? Or is it in a very cold region with freezing winters? That means that you must always replace the batteries preventively much earlier than the ‘general battery life’ stated by the manufacturer. You cannot risk having non-operational locks to access CRITIAL infrastructure.
- You don’t need a battery to have an internal clock in the lock. If the key is a smartphone which already has a clock, why would you need to have an additional one in the lock? Time manipulation on the phone can easily be detected by the app preventing the possibility of misuse.
- You don’t need a battery to be able to open a lock if the user is offline. Battery-powered locks rely on the lock’s intelligence. That’s why they need a battery. But if the key, which is a smartphone, is an intelligent device, why replicate it also in the lock? In battery-free systems, the credentials are already in the phone. The phone identifies the lock and sends the signal to it to unlock if the user has credentials. And no network is needed for this process. You can open the lock even if you are offline.
- Battery-powered locks can be opened remotely, but why would you want to? The purpose of installing a digital-locking system is to track whether the people who access potentially dangerous sites are the right ones with the right certificates. Why would you need to open a lock remotely? This is a ‘back-door route’ that can be used to bypass the main identification protocol causing gaps in security. Additionally, to be able to open remotely, you need a connected gateway device on site, increasing the investment and maintenance costs.
To summarize: batteries add maintenance time and costs, pollute the world, and do not have any added value because you can have the same functionality without them.
Author: Joaquim Serrahima, Director Global Key Accounts Telecom, iLOQ
