Overview of Rechargeable Battery Technologies

Lately there’s been a lot of buzz in the rechargeable battery world, after a number of promising new technologies have been hyped on the market. Now is probably the right time to get an overview of the advantages and drawbacks of the different types of rechargeable batteries, before we get too bogged down in all the hype.

History classes

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The first generation of rechargeable batteries, the NiCd (nickel-cadmium) types, have been on the market for decades now. Besides the fact they’re rated 1.2V compared to the 1.5V from alkaline batteries that most devices expect, they had that very annoying memory effect. What this means is that, if you recharged them before they were completely depleted, they would never reach their full capacity again. This would force you to start the next charging cycle a bit sooner again, sacrificing yet another bit of the capacity, and so on.

This was partly addressed by the NiMH (nickel metal hydride) technology. These rechargeables, at least in theory, got rid of the memory effect. Again in theory, they promised a thousand discharge/charge cycles without a very significant loss of capacity. But they still suffered from self-discharge. What does that mean? Well, quite simply, if you fully charge them and put them in the drawer, after a month or so there would be little capacity left. Very annoying when you quickly grab your camera for the picture of your life and the only thing you get is a low-battery warning.

Enter the Li-ion technology. These batteries are still the best technology around, which is why you can find them in most electronic devices with rechargeable batteries, from your Blackberry to your laptop. Why don’t we find them in the form factor of AA cells, then? Quite simply because they have a 3.6V output rating instead of the required 1.5V, which would fry most of your fancy electronic toys.

A few years ago, the Sanyo Eneloop NiMH batteries saw the light of day, and those finally got rid of the self-discharge problem. They even come charged in the package, and after months of shelf life in your store, you can still insert them into your device without charging and start playing straight away. This makes them about the best technology currently available for everyday use…

Or not?

Just recently, another technology was born, namely the PowerGenix NiZn rechargeable batteries. Are they revolutionary? No, they’re not, but they do have a 1.6V output rating compared to the 1.2V that the legacy technologies offered. In most cases that’s not such a big deal, but when you have a device that’s picky and insists on getting 1.5V fed to it, this might be the rechargeable battery that comes to your rescue. But you do have to sacrifice the low self-discharge advantage of the Eneloops.

So much for the history lessons. We decided to create an overview table to help you see the forest through the trees. We’ve included the USBCell too – although they use legacy technology, the charging mechanism is revolutionary.

At the bottom of the table you'll find some links to more detailed descriptions of some of the products.

Overview table

*) In theory, most disposable batteries can’t be recharged, but there are chargers around that claim to recharge them up to about 10 times.
**) Li-ion batteries are often charged inside the device (cell phone, etc), meaning that you don’t need to take a charger with you. Often a USB cable is enough.

Categories: multimedia,power,rechargeable batteries,comparison,green,portable devices

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Comments (2)

• |2010-04-09 00:29:50 Sire
  I never knew there were so many types of rechargeable batteries. I know I haven't bought them for a long time because they never did the proper job for long enough. Now that I have this table I am tempted to give them another try.
  
  Consider this post tweeted.
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• |2010-04-09 02:33:19 Clever & Easy
  Thanks.
  You may have noticed that there are relatively a lot of rechargeable battery articles on this site. My attention is sparked by the same type of frustration.
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