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ENELOOP
is a totally new
type of battery, which satisfies
in a unique way the needs
and expectations of the consumers.
The needs of the
consumers
Consumers would like to have a
battery, which
- can be used right after the purchase
- has a high performance
- has a long shelf life with no loss of energy
- can be used everywhere
- is cheap in purchase and usage
- is environmental friendly
- is easy to use
Spoilt for choice
So far these requirements could
not be satisfied by a single type of batteries.
The consumer had the choice
between disposable batteries or rechargeable batteries.
Disposable batteries have several
advantages :
- they can be used immediately
- they have a long shelf life with low loss of
energy
- they are rather cheap in purchase
- they are easy to use and no charger is required
These advantages however, had to
be seen alongside several clear disadvantages.
Disposable batteries
- can be used only once and therefore mean
substantial waste and risk for the environment.
- have to be purchased over and over again and are
therefore expensive considering the life-time of
your equipment.
- are not quite powerful enough in certain
applications ( like digital cameras )
- are being offered in many varieties and special
application-specific types, which confuses the
consumer.
The classical advantages of
rechargeable batteries are:
- high performance, especially if high discharge
currents are required ( like in digital cameras )
- cheap in use, because they can be recharged many
times.
- environmental friendly, because one rechargeable
battery replaces 1000 disposable batteries.
- good performance at low temperatures.
Given these advantages, there
were however also some disadvantages, which made
consumers reluctant to exchange disposable
batteries by rechargeable batteries.
- After purchase, rechargeable batteries have to
be charged before they can be used.
- Rechargeable batteries lose the stored energy
rather fast.
- The state of charge is hard to determine.
- Continuous charging or frequent charge ( without
complete discharge ) can destroy the battery.
- Proper charging is complicated for an average
consumer
- The charging takes quite long and rapid chargers
are expensive.
All these negative attributes
have one root-cause: self discharge.
Self-discharge means, that a
charged battery slowly discharges itself without any
equipment consuming any current.
This is the reason for
rechargeable batteries being sold in discharged state.
And this is the reason for that keeping charged
batteries for some time did not make any sense. When you
needed them, the energy was gone.
Immediate Use
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