Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. yesterday announced the release of their revamped AA- and AAA-size "eneloop" rechargeable batteries.
The company says the new eneloop can be recharged approximately 1,500 times and is a new milestone for the rechargeable battery industry.
The batteries are now also pre-charged at the factory using renewable energy generated from solar power, as a part of the Green Power Certification System.
Rechargeable batteries are becoming increasingly common and are particularly popular with people living off grid in order to power small appliances such as LED lights. One of the challenges in using rechargeable batteries is they tend to lose charge rapidly when stored in comparison to single use batteries. Sanyo says the new eneloop battery will still retain 90% of its charge after 6 months, 85% after one year, 80% after 2 years and 75% even after 3 years. Most batteries of the same composition would lose all their charge within 2 years.
Other "green" features of the eneloop include packaging made of recycled PET. Instead of being recycled, the packaging can also be used as a battery storage case. The batteries themselves are fully recyclable at the end of their life-cycle.
The eneloop series of batteries were first in November 2005 and Sanyo says that over 90 million eneloop batteries have been shipped to more than 60 countries worldwide as of the end of July this year.
