'Green' battery not popular here yet
By
WILL longer life spark reluctant Singaporeans into accepting the much-touted rechargeable battery?
Many may need more jolting before they forgo ease of use for the sake of a cleaner and safer environment by using rechargeable batteries.
A new brand of rechargeable batteries with a lifetime replacement guarantee was launched here recently.
The brand, Millennium, is made in the United States by Gates Energy Products.
Mr David Hellier, Gates’ manager of international sales, explained the environmental impact using rechargeable batteries would have: "A single rechargeable battery can replace 300 throw-away batteries and all their associated packaging.
"As a rule of thumb, each rechargeable battery can be recharged 1,000 times and about 90 per cent of the materials in a rechargeable cell can be recycled."
The manufacturers of Millennium are allowing consumers to bring their worn rechargeables back to the agents for free replacements.
However, a Straits Times check with battery dealers here revealed that there is a "negligible" market for cylindrical rechargeable batteries, such as the AA, AAA or C and D sizes.
Mr Joseph Ng, 48, sales manager of Hagemeyer, a distributor for Panasonic products, put the market figure for normal rechargeable cells at less than 2 per cent.
"Many people are simply too lazy to think of recharging batteries, which usually takes a few hours," he said.
But Gates has some chargers which can recharge batteries in just one hour.
Mr Lim Swee Bee, 34, strategic account manager for Duracell, which produces both normal and rechargeble batteries, said that at the moment, rechargeables are used mainly for toys and devices requiring a high amount of energy.
An average rechargeable battery can cost three to four times more than a normal one.
But despite the higher initial cost, Mr Lim pointed out: "Rechargeabies are really cheaper in the long run."
However, the consumers’ chief complaint is that rechargeables go flat faster.
Sales executive Rashid Ahmad, 38, said that his friends use normal batteries for their remote-controlled toy cars.
"Normal batteries usually last longer. It would be inconvenient and impossible to recharge your batteries at East Coast Park in the middle of a race," he said.
Undergraduate Thomas Tan, 24, however, has not bought a single new battery for his Walkman in the past three years.
He said: "I just pop the rechargeables into my charger and plug it in overnight. What’s so inconvenient about that?"
Source : The Straits Times, August 30, 1993
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