Think about it - This would have sounded downright ludicrous even 20 years ago. But over the past decade or so, we’ve been making rapid advances in this field - today, there is not a single area of human activity that hasn’t in some way been touched by the advent of the Internet of Things. 

This exponential growth is a result of some pretty pathbreaking innovation, no doubt - Incredible technological advances stacked on top of one another. Wireless sensors, bluetooth technology, Wi-fi, ML, AI - you get it - it’s a result of a whole bunch of advanced capabilities coming together - but what’s ironic is that in spite of all these tremendous advancements in ultra-low-power electronics, the majority of these devices still rely on batteries for their power. 

What’s wrong with them being battery powered?

Where do we even begin? 

First off, let’s start with the sheer irony of the fact that the entire enterprise of IoT is predicated on the idea of untethered connectivity - i.e. unrestricted access and connectivity. Batteries, by definition, bring constraints into the mix - they have a limited capacity which means that they need periodic replacements or recharging. 

The IoT dream was realised on the promise of sensors and devices that can be deployed in the most far-flung, remote areas of the world, gathering and transmitting data seamlessly without being tethered to a power socket - but to be tethered to a battery isn’t that much of an improvement. After all, even the best batteries eventually run out. 

Not to mention the laundry list of annoying pain points that batteries come with - they are an environmental hazard and contribute massively to our massive e-waste problem - use and throw batteries end up in landfills and oceans, spilling toxic chemicals into our water and food for years and years. 

The minerals that are required to manufacture these batteries are notoriously rare and very dubiously sourced. 

They also represent a significant recurring cost to businesses that deploy large numbers of IoT sensors. 

Imagine a facility that deploys a thousand wireless sensors - if each of these sensors will require battery replacements - even if it is only once every few years - that adds up to a lot of labour costs and hassle. 

But in spite of all these obvious disadvantages, batteries have persevered and are in fact, the go to power solution for IoT devices even today. 

Why, though?

Let’s find out!

Risk aversion or hidden merit? 

ABI Research estimates that over 60% of current sensor deployments in industrial IoT environments are battery-operated, with minimal usage of state-of-the-art, green modalities such as energy harvesting.

Moreover, there are reports that suggest that the IoT-battery market is actually growing, indicating that many companies still prefer the “tried and tested” batteries  over potentially revolutionary, albeit unfamiliar alternatives.

So, why is it that batteries continue to dominate the IoT sensor market in spite of so much pathbreaking innovation in the self-powered IoT arena?

For one, engineers find them very easy to work with and design around. Companies have invested billions of dollars and decades of their time in perfecting Printed Circuit Board (PCB) layouts, mechanical housings and certification processes around battery-based semiconductor systems. 

Batteries are simply not the future-proof power solution that IoT’s next evolution demands, but an abrupt pivot to fully batteryless systems isn’t realistic either. Instead, the industry is looking toward transitional solutions—methods that recognize our present limitations but also nudge us toward more sustainable, self-powered approaches over time.

There are very well-oiled supply chains that have been established around these products worldwide to enable fast prototyping and mass-production. Moreover, battery-based designs fit very neatly into existing regulatory frameworks, making it easier for companies to bring these products to market. 

Moreover, we’ve managed to create highly standardised modalities to measure battery capacity which makes it very easy to incorporate battery-related components into devices. 

Another major factor is form. OEMs have designed the form factors of their product lines around standard battery types - such as AA, AAA, coin cells - you name it. We understand the voltages, capacities, lifespans and capacities of these batteries and therefore, have modelled our designs to fit these widely available power solutions. 

This one might be obvious, but batteries are a product that boast of very well entrenched supply chains - they are manufactured by very large and well connected players - they make their way from factory floors to local distributors seamlessly, making it very cost effective, upfront,  for companies to design their products around them. 

So, does this mean, we just accept the status-quo for what it is and not do anything about it?

No Way!

I think the trick here is to not take a zero-sum approach - it is essential to see the merit in both sides of the argument - there are a number of reasons why batteries still make practical sense for large-scale use in IoT - especially industrial IoT - and can’t be phased out instantaneously. 

But equally, we just can’t hide from the fact that we do need to start phasing them out at some point in the near future - they simply don’t belong in the high-tech connected world that we are creating - the world of AI, ML and edge computing. They are a stop-gap solution at best and it is imperative that we recognise this. 

They are not the future-proof power solution that the future of IoT demands from us - but here’s the thing - we’re not going to make a sudden leap - things never work that way. We need a gradual transition - we need solutions that are pragmatic enough to recognise our present limitations while being visionary enough to propel us towards the future, in whatever capacity they can. 

Many use-cases can benefit from a middle-of-the-way approach that doesn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater - an approach that integrates energy harvesting into existing battery-powered designs in order to bolster their lifespans and reduce their environmental footprint. 

Before we explore the hybrid approach, it is essential to answer this question - why bother making the shift at all?

Firstly, there’s the elephant in the room - sustainability. We all bear a massive responsibility to hand over the planet in good shape to the generations to come. The e-waste crisis has reached an extent where we simply can’t ignore it any longer - reducing our battery turnover will have a direct impact on how many batteries end up in landfills and oceans. There’s also the indirect effects - fewer maintenance trips, lesser battery production and ergo, a smaller carbon footprint. 

Secondly, it just takes us closer to the original IoT dream - which was that of frictionless, untethered, “set-it-and-forget-it” sensing. Hybrid sensors bring us closer to that dream and batteryless sensors truly enable that dream - this is especially true in remote deployments and in harsh environments, where battery swaps are close to impossible. 

The Hybrid Approach - Bridging the Gap

In recent years, energy harvesting technologies have emerged as by far the most compelling alternative to batteries when it comes to IoT power solutions. They enable truly batteryless sensors that are able to power themselves by energy harvested from their surroundings. 

We might not realise it, but there are swirling cascades of energy all around us at all times - energy harvesting technologies allow us to capture small packets of this energy and convert it into usable electricity that can power sensors and keep them untethered. 

There are a number of standards that have emerged in the past decade  as viable contenders - RF energy harvesting, piezoelectric energy harvesting, photovoltaic energy harvesting etc. 

Energy harvesting powered sensors are cleaner, more economical (over their lifetimes) and more compact than their battery powered counterparts. However, as we saw earlier, there are other concerns that stop them from being adopted en masse. 

That’s why hybrid solutions are quickly becoming the sweet in-between option for manufacturers looking to get the best of both worlds. There are two schools of thought around these hybrid devices - the first one is to think of the battery as a safety net - the device primarily draws power from ambient sources and only taps into its battery when it needs a boost or when environmental conditions make energy harvesting difficult. 

The second one is to see the energy harvesting as a boost to the battery - increasing the battery life exponentially by reducing the load. Either way, these solutions are starting to make a lot of heads turn with their versatility and massive scope.  

They minimise disruption - manufacturers don’t have to overhaul entire product lines and supply chains. They increase reliability and scalability as we gradually build towards a totally batteryless future. 

So, what does a hybrid solution look like?

Partial Energy Harvesting - You add a mini solar cell, RF harvester, or other ambient energy capture mechanism alongside the existing battery. This means the sensor can sip on harvested energy most of the time and only dip into battery reserves when ambient sources aren’t sufficient (e.g., at night or in signal-poor locations).

Extended Battery Lifespan - By running off harvested energy whenever possible, the battery drains more slowly—significantly cutting down on replacements, maintenance trips, and environmental impact.

No Major Overhaul - From an engineering perspective, you don’t have to scrap your entire product line or redesign from scratch. If you’ve already got standardized PCBs, enclosures, and supply chains for your battery components, you can often incorporate energy-harvesting modules with minimal disruption.

One reason battery-based devices remain prevalent is the sheer familiarity of design processes. Engineers know exactly how to choose and test AA or CR2032 coin cells, and OEMs can count on a robust, global supply chain to source these components. According to ABI Research, more than 60% of current industrial IoT sensors still run on traditional batteries—a testament to the comfort and reliability that comes with well-understood power solutions.

But why exactly does this hybrid model matter beyond the theoretical? Let’s get a bit more tangible—it helps to picture specific, real-world scenarios that show just how big an impact even partial energy harvesting can have.

Bringing Hybrid to Life: Real-World Scenarios

1. Remote Farmland Sensors

Imagine an agricultural setting with hundreds of soil moisture and temperature sensors spread across fields. Typically, these sensors run on coin cell batteries and last around 2 years before dying. A hybrid approach—adding a small solar panel or basic RF harvester—means the device draws ambient energy for most operations and sips on battery only when conditions are poor. Suddenly, that 2-year lifespan might double to 4 years or more.

2. Industrial Warehouse Tracking

Picture a vast warehouse with inventory-tracking tags on conveyor belts, pallets, and shelves. Most of these tags might last about 18 months on a small coin cell. But if you integrate a kinetic harvester (energy from motion) or exploit the constant hum of Wi-Fi signals, that battery might stretch to 3 years or more.

Minimal Disruption: You don’t have to overhaul your entire warehouse workflow—just embed a harvesting module where the battery slot already exists.

Extended Battery Lifespans: Doubling the life of each tag slashes replacement labor, making your entire operation smoother and more cost-effective.

Strategic Scalability: As your company adds more sensors, you’re not exponentially increasing battery headaches—each new sensor can partly power itself.

3. Shipping Container Trackers

Consider GPS-enabled trackers attached to shipping containers moving across seas, rail lines, and trucks. Traditionally, these trackers need battery replacements every 6–8 months—which is no small feat when containers are constantly on the move. With a small solar panel on top, the device relies mostly on harvested energy during daylight, dipping into the battery only at night or in covered storage. That extends operational life to 2 years or more.

Significant Maintenance Cuts: Fewer global hunts to locate each container and swap batteries.

Continuous Visibility: Fewer dead trackers means less risk of losing cargo data in transit.

Eco-Friendly Edge: Shipping companies can tout sustainability gains, appealing to both regulators and eco-conscious clients

4. Healthcare Wearables

Think about a patient-worn armband that monitors vitals in real time. Normally, it needs charging every couple of days—which many patients forget, creating data gaps. By integrating motion-based or RF-based harvesting, you can push that charging cycle out to nearly a week for some users.

Better Compliance: Patients are more likely to keep wearing the device if they don’t have to charge it constantly.

Improved Healthcare Outcomes: Continuous monitoring (fewer missed days) means earlier interventions if anomalies arise.

Foundation for Batteryless: Once the wearables can reliably gather enough ambient energy, the battery can shrink or vanish entirely—especially valuable for remote patient monitoring in underserved areas.

Making the Most of a Hybrid Model

Whether it’s farmland, warehouses, shipping, or healthcare, partial energy harvesting can have massive ripple effects. Let’s connect the dots on why hybrid systems solve more than just the “battery annoyance” factor:

Reduced E-Waste Even if you don’t achieve 100% batteryless operation, slashing battery replacements by half—or even a quarter—adds up to a monumental environmental win. Over a large fleet of sensors, fewer spent batteries in landfills means a smaller overall carbon footprint.

Lower Operating Costs Every battery swap typically involves manual labor—someone has to locate the sensor, open it up, replace the battery, ensure it’s functioning again, and log the event. Multiply that by hundreds or thousands of nodes, and it’s a significant cost sink. When you extend battery lifespans with energy harvesting, you drastically reduce these site visits.

Stepping Stone to Batteryless The infrastructure you build now—using low-power MCUs, partial harvesters, and redesigned PCB footprints—lays the groundwork for an eventual transition to fully battery-free devices. As energy-harvesting technology matures (improving cold-start capabilities, boosting capture efficiency), you can phase out the battery entirely in future device iterations.

Keeping It Organic

But let’s not forget the bigger picture: These scenarios and benefits aren’t just nice bullet points—they form part of a broader narrative about IoT’s natural evolution. We moved from wired sensors to battery-powered sensors because it freed us from wall sockets. Now we’re moving from battery-only to battery-plus-ambient-energy because it reduces cost, maintenance, and e-waste. Eventually, we’ll reach a point where ambient energy alone is enough in many (though not all) situations.

“This is less of a revolution and more of a gentle shift,” says an imaginary IoT project manager. “We’re not throwing out our existing designs overnight. But every time we update a sensor, we add a tiny harvester. After a few generations, we’ll see how much we’ve cut down on batteries—and that’s a big deal.”

The key is recognizing that batteries aren’t evil nor are they a permanent fixture. They’re simply tools that served a purpose for a while—and in many cases, continue to serve a purpose. But as IoT scales to tens of billions of devices, the environmental and economic downsides become too large to ignore. Hybrid energy solutions, in this sense, represent a pragmatic path—one that acknowledges our reliance on batteries but also paves the way for a more autonomous IoT.

Conclusion: Embracing the Hybrid Mindset

Ultimately, hybrid power solutions answer two pressing questions:

How do we reduce battery replacements now? and

How do we transition smoothly to batteryless IoT in the future?

By adding small but powerful energy harvesters—like solar panels, RF collectors, or piezoelectric elements—manufacturers and deployers can keep their existing battery-centric infrastructure and supply chains, yet dramatically reduce how often those batteries need replacing. That’s a huge win for the environment, a win for operational budgets, and a win for the original IoT vision of unfettered connectivity.

So, while batteries remain the status quo, we don’t quite have to turn a blind eye to the serious limitations that they bring to the table. Challenge your designs, incorporate some ambient energy capture, and watch as your device runtimes stretch, your maintenance costs drop, and your brand reputation shines. The true promise of IoT—“deploy anywhere, run forever”—may be closer than we realize, and hybrid solutions are the stepping stones that will get us there.