Energizer has been working on zinc-air batteries for quite
some time now (along with
plenty of
others), but it looks like its now finally set to deliver with a new "standard battery" that's said to be on track for a launch sometime in the summer of next year. What's more, while some of the company's previous attempts at zinc-air batteries have only been able to manage average run times of between one and three months, Energizer says it's recently been able to triple things in time for the batteries' big debut. That will first come in the form of some AAAA batteries from Energizer itself, which will apparently be priced similarly to "special lithium batteries," and will eventually be followed by zinc-air batteries in a range of different sizes. During the same time, we should also start to see some of the first products with integrated zinc-air batteries from some of the 30 odd OEMs now working with Energizer, who are working to put the batteries into everything from Bluetooth headsets to remote controls to portable audio players.
posted December 1st 2009 7:32PM
Are zinc-air batteries rechargeable? I thought they weren't so I'm surprised to read about integrating them in other devices.
@(Unverified) Bah, I should have read the related posts!
@(Unverified)
Yes.
@(Unverified)
These are NOT rechargeable. They run on one charge for an extremely long time. That's the big deal. They use them in hearing aids now.
@Energizer
FFS don't name it AAAA, it sounds so awkward and fugly. Call it A4 or whatever, just keep it under 3 letters to make it easy to pronounce, kthnx
- a consumer
I welcome any advancement in battery tech!
Is that one too many A or will I never be able to do this?
OFF TO THE READ LINKS!
@(Unverified) I love how what I just said makes absolutely no sense.
... and the fact I can't edit what I just wrote to make it somewhat coherent.
@(Unverified) "The batteries have a thickness of only 5mm, as compared with the 8mm thickness of the smallest alkaline battery (AAAA), and are available in a new prismatic (rectangular) form factor."
"The first model will be the 1.5V PP355 (AAAA volume) battery, which will be available in a new 5mm-thick prismatic package, measuring 32.2 x 14.7 x 4.0mm."
Can't remember the last time I bought stock batteries.
@kopmis very true
Duracell FTW
@Cheesus Crust
Eneloop FTW
@Peytral Zoe FTW!
Wait wait wait...batteries that you throw away? Should I put it in my VHS?
"Prismatic"? Somebody needs to teach these dolts English.
There is nothing prismatic about this design, as it doesn't split light into a spectrum. Talk about worse than meaningless; it's actually trying to undermine an already understood word.
@Information Central
Prismatic refers to the battery shape being elongated with parallel sides, not the properties of bending light.
@Information Central -"prismatic" is a very common term used by battery makers. Prismatic cells have rectangular cases, as opposed to more typical cylindrical cells. Prismatic cells are used in small devices like phones because they can't afford the wasted battery space in the gaps around cylindrical cells.
We have a word for that already: RECTANGULAR.
Hope these are fully recycable otherwise they'll be under fire during the "Green" season most activist are in at the moment. Is this tech applicable to smartphones or is it still weak battery life for a few more years yet?
There should be a pretty big boost in the zinc market when these start selling. Strong zinc market means that we can finally eliminate the penny! Everyone wins.
So basically, expect by 2011?
Here is an Energizer page with more than you'll ever want to know:
http://data.energizer.com/zincairprismatic/Default.html
The "Handbook" link is the most informative.
There is a lot of not-so-great news left out of the press release:
1) These are NOT rechargeable
2) They seem to be competing with alkaline and claim to have 3x the capacity in the same volume, and are especially targeting small devices since the battery is only 5mm thick.
3) The bad news is that once you pull the cover off the air hole (yes, they need air, hence "zinc-air") they die in about 6-8 weeks whether you use them or not. I think this fact is a killer and makes these cells a waste of time for anything I own.
4) The 8 week death of #3 can be mitigated somewhat by having a sealed orifice in the device that controls air getting the battery so the battery gets no air when off. But I can't see Chinese device makers going to that much trouble for this battery.
5) I'm sticking with Eneloops
@uberFu - From the press releases, No. They are thin rectangular cells only. That is supposed to be a feature for thin devices, but it will only help devices specifically designed for those cells. But that will also restrict their uptake since they wont fit in existing AA and AAA slots.