"Powercell"... A Battery By Any Other Name; Variant 1; Super Extra Fresh Green And Blue; 005

 "Powercell" may be a name or brand that strikes fear into some of the hardiest world-weary of consumers when it comes to batteries.

I've always felt that it was a direct rip off of the "Duracell" name, but you could argue that the word "cell" isn't exactly owned by Duracell and it does imply battery cell, so perhaps I'm being cantankerous. Or perhaps it's the Powercell or brands using the words "Dura" and "Cell" in their name AND using a similar "Copper-Coloured Top" marketing gimmick to sell their products as Duracell-like I'm thinking of...

Powercell Variant 1 1

This image here is a prime example of that, and if I were Duracell, I'd be spitting my tea out as soon as I saw this and getting my lawyers to grab these con-artists by the throat.

Anyway, these are approaching what I'd call the "bottom" of the cheap battery market, and in my own experience they certainly don't last long in anything important I've tried them with. That said, as a cheap battery for children's toys and the occasional-use item, they appear no better or worse than any other cheap battery.

The name doesn't appear to be trade-marked (yet?) and so there are many different companies churning out batteries all called "Powercell"

I particularly like the way the marketing people behind these batteries often uses key phrases or slogans in an effort to make them appear more attractive, such as "Super", "Extra", "Heavy Duty", "Mega Value", "High Energy", "Ultra", and my favourite pairing of "Maximum Power, Maximum Endurance".

If I owned a genuine "Powercell" business like this one I'd be seriously hacked off at Chinese manufacturers tarnishing my reputation with similarly-named products of lesser value.

This is a pretty old battery, with a use-by date of 2006, making it 12 years old at time of writing, and you can see it's suffered from some deformation;

Powercell Variant 1 2

Being curious, I looked to see what causes that "bulging" effect in batteries and learnt it's a build-up of hydrogen gas that does this, eventually deforming the battery so much it starts to "leak". Manufacturers add mercury in order to prevent the formation of this internal gas. That lead me onto another question; "How much mercury is actually allowed in these AA batteries, then?", as this battery is actually labelled as containing less that 0.025% of mercury (by weight, we assume).

Well, for me here in the UK and with us still "half in, half out" of the EU, according to Directive 2006/66/EC (page 9, Article 4);

1. Without prejudice to Directive 2000/53/EC, Member States shall

prohibit the placing on the market of:

(a) all batteries or accumulators, whether or not incorporated into

appliances, that contain more than 0,0005 % of mercury by

weight; and

(b) portable batteries or accumulators, including those incorporated into

appliances, that contain more than 0,002 % of cadmium by weight.

Powercell Variant 1 3

So technically  this Powercell battery, even with it's peculiar "Fresh" text and hearts logo (implying it's "green" or healthy? God knows...), actually exceeds that limit.

Better go and wash my hands now, whilst I think of it.