Would CPFers lobby for rechargable lithiums?

leukos

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I've been emailing battery companies to entice them to offer a line of rechargable lithium batteries. I thought maybe if a company receives 100+ emails asking about it they may see there is a ready market for them. The technology is out there already; it would be great to have a line in the standard battery formats--AAA,AA,C,D,N,123a, etc. Here's a list of email contact pages from various battery manufacturers:

http://www.duracell.com/company/contact.asp?id=58&

http://www.energizer.com/contact/default.asp

http://www.sanyo.com/batteries/feedback.cfm

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/wwwconsumer/customersupport/CustomerFeedback.jsp?modelNo=


Hope we see a line of rechargable lithium batteries soon from one of these companies! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 

KevinL

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What sizes do you have in mind?

For the common battery sizes such as AA, AAA and so on, so much R&D and money has been invested in developing NiMH cells with ever higher capacities. It seems unlikely that they would switch to lithium ion any time soon, especially given that lithium ion cells deliver 3.6-4.2V. Average consumers would just pop them into any AA device and *boom* goes the device.

For rechargeable lithium ion cells in CR123 size, we have all been holding our breath/not sleeping/twisting fingers for a while /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif but the important thing is that the cells are already being manufactured and tested, it is just a matter of when the first shipment arrives.
 

Kiessling

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who would want rechargeables anyway /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif ?
Don't push the poor manufacturers in a direction nobody would want them to take /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin07.gif ...
bk
 

pjandyho

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Of course we who use CR123 lithiums would prefer a similar battery that is rechargeable but think about it, would manufacturers want to do that? If you are producing batteries like Energizer, Duracell, Everready, and Panasonic, would you rather consumers buy as many batteries as possible or would you rather they buy a few rechargeables, and a charger or two? No matter how much you price your rechargeables it would never compare to the cost of someone buying batteries their whole life.

Perhaps you might try Sanyo since they have a range of rechargeable AAs and AAAs. All they need is produce a Li-Ion CR123 that runs at 3 volts so that we flashaholics wouldn't have to crack our heads figuring the voltage thing for fear of compatibility with our lights.
 

Ray_of_Light

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I heard the same story about 30 years ago, on the onset of widespread market for the standard sized Ni-Cd battery. I was one of the first to give up my shirt to get some NiCD. I soon find out that they were very good for cyclical and continued use, but they were dead for more occasional use, and useless for emergency use.
The manufacturers knew it very well, while some press said that was the end for the market of primary cells.
I don't see why should be different with Li-Ions today, if not for the ability of lithium salts like lithium cobaltite to burn without oxygen! And the higher voltage of course, but that can be fixed...

Anthony
 

JonSidneyB

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I worked on lobbying for about two years. I made head way but the results were not good enough for consumer turnkey use. I let the ones I got go now I see them popping up. I wanted something that was not going to get me sued so I got the next generation of batteries going. I will try them to make other sizes of protected cells if the 123s are a comercial success but I will need lots of support to get it done.
 

Hallis

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[ QUOTE ]
JonSidneyB said:
I worked on lobbying for about two years. I made head way but the results were not good enough for consumer turnkey use. I let the ones I got go now I see them popping up. I wanted something that was not going to get me sued so I got the next generation of batteries going. I will try them to make other sizes of protected cells if the 123s are a comercial success but I will need lots of support to get it done.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well the only support I can add Jon is buying a set of whatever pre-production cells you get a sample of and helping you test them. If there's something more i can do then let me know. But don't be afraid of asking for some help from me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
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