Longer-Lasting Batteries to Replace NiCads, Battery Maker Says
 
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO (Microbytes Daily News Service) --- Even though
they're the most widely used type of battery in portable
computers, the days of nickel-cadmium batteries could be
numbered. Nickel metal hydride batteries promise 50 percent
higher capacity than NiCad batteries and don't contain highly
toxic substances like cadmium, according to Richard Whitt,
commercial products manager for Gates Energy Products. Gates said
at Wescon last week that it'll soon offer nickel hydride
batteries that will work with the current generation of portable
computers.
 
Nickel metal hydride batteries will be able to replace existing
NiCads in portable computers, thus extending battery life about
50 percent, Whitt said. The higher-capacity batteries will also
allow manufacturers to design systems that consume more power
than is possible with existing NiCad batteries.
 
Gates Energy Products says it will have sample nickel metal
hydride batteries in 1990 and expects to be in full production in
1991. The new batteries will sell "for a premium," said Whitt. In
other words, they will be more expensive than NiCad batteries.
 
Nickel metal hydride batteries will be good for "moderate
discharge" applications like computers or radios and TVs but will
not replace NiCads in "high discharge" applications such as power
tools or other devices requiring large bursts of power
consumption.
 
While Gates has traditionally been an OEM supplier of batteries
(Zenith uses Gates battery packs in its portables, for example),
the company will announce its entry into the retail market at the
Consumer Electronics Show in January.
 
Contact: Gates Energy Products, PO Box 114, Gainesville, FL
32602; (904) 462-3911.
 
                              --- Nick Baran
 
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