Rechargeable Batteries

seriously interesting read - although now i have the urge to toss some Li-ion batteries onto a fire...

Very nice read, you touched on the fuel cell batteries using hydrogen which is flammable but are they more or less likely to catch fire then a lithium li-on battery? Since I guess they'd have to pass even more stringent safety rules if they contain flammable gas.

In the not too distant future, I'm flying a Canon Powershot A560 on a meteorological balloon to about 100,000 ft where it's -50degC - and it'll be running on a pair of the Energizer Lithium cells. They're just about the only thing that can survive the temperature and keep working - and in testing I've had 3500 shots out of them - they are just astonishing performance-wise.

when I read the title I was looking forward to an interesting shootout on which would be the rechargeable batteries (AA, C, D etc) to buy.....not a history lesson on batteries that I could have got from Wikipedia if needed....

you are 'TrustedReviews' after all......review something.....please..:-)

For some further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_self-discharge_NiMH_battery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_polymer

Interestingly quite a bit of the Li ion battery technology was developed for the military - in order to have batteries working in all environments. This may not be true for commercial batteries, but in the military ones they can even carry on operating after a bullet is fired through it.

Good article, I would like for Trusted Reviews to have made a prediction of when we are going to see the ultimate killer app for Rechargeable Batteries. That would be a car running on a "Rechargeable Batteries" that could be charged in less then a hour, which could go 1,000 miles before re-charges, and top speed would be 200MPH.

The closest thing I have seen so far that matches the killer app for Rechargeable Batteries is the Tesla Roadster which is a 100% electric car, goes 220 miles per charge, 0-60 3.9 secs

http://www.teslamotors.com/

Thanks for going to the trouble Cliff, nicely written too, I anticipate an enthralling re read later today, It never would have occured to me to go to Wikki and look up The History of Batteries - So Far and that's the point HSC, a good magazine will cater for all sorts and vary the stimulus so that people can discover a little more.
Reading these items is not compulsory and they are free.
It will now be bookmarked for posterity.
My thanks to The Trusted Reviews team, we should say it more often, along with please.

Fascinating stuff. To think I thought my Nikon EN-EL3 was for life...

Good article. I hope the airlines come to their senses and allow liquids onboard, maybe those methanol fuel cells will come into production then.

Did you know you can get on a plane with liquid drugs if you show a prescription?

There are so many loop holes, it just isn't worth banning liquids completely.

Like some other posters said I am not surfing to trustedreviews to find encyclopedia articles. If I want the background on a topic then I go to wikipedia or to HowStuffWorks. On the battery topic, for example, their article is quite larger than the one spit here: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/battery.htm