Just over one in ten batteries sold in France are rechargeable.
Wanting to boost this market, the firm Pale Blue launches its rechargeable batteries up to 1,000 times, directly using a USB cable and without a charging box.
A practical and more ecological innovation which nevertheless remains up to three times more expensive than for conventional rechargeable batteries.
Twenty eight.
This is the number of batteries that the French buy each year.
Faced with the development of battery-operated devices, the conventional battery market is not experiencing a crisis*.
It is in this context that the American brand Pale Blue arrives in France with its rechargeable batteries.
Special feature: they do not need a charging case, but are recharged independently via USB.
20 Minutes
tested them.
The end of the charging case
The American brand Pale Blue, notably born in 2019 from
crowdfounding
funding on Indiegogo (which raised $327,114) is launching a new kind of lithium-ion polymer batteries.
At first glance, nothing distinguishes them from conventional batteries, except for a slightly lower weight.
But on closer inspection, each battery has a micro USB slot that will allow it to be recharged.
Practice ?
Convenient, yes, because the charging box disappears.
That's always a bit less plastic and electronics on the planet.
Yes too, because each battery can be recharged independently, or in groups, thanks to a cable with two or four micro USB to USB ports that can be purchased with a rechargeable battery pack (count 29 euros for four AA or AAA batteries ).
Yes again, because each battery has a small LED indicator that flashes during charging, and remains fixed once the battery is recharged.
Yes finally, because there is no need for a mains socket.
A computer will suffice for charging.
Which is easier on the go.
Up to 1,000 charging cycles
Announced with up to 1,000 charge cycles, the Pale Blue batteries are in the high average compared to competitors, some of which emerge at less than 500 minimum cycles.
Pale Blue batteries would also recharge five times faster than Nimh batteries.
We were able to see that a little over two hours were enough for the four AA batteries tested and plugged into our iMac to recharge.
Good point also for the LED indicator, frankly practical to know when the recharge is complete.
And we did not notice any heating of the batteries when recharging them.
A lower capacity
Downside, the capacity of the Pale Blue AA batteries is 1,500 mAh each.
This is little.
Even generic Amazon batteries do better, with 2,400 mAh.
Generally, it is thus rather recommended 2,100 mAh for the rechargeable one… It is to be feared that used with a toy or an energy-intensive tool, these new batteries are less enduring and need to be recharged more often.
It is probably better to recommend its use for a remote control, a computer keyboard or mouse, a clock, or even a smoke detector... which consume little energy.
And we regret that Pale Blue did not opt for USB-C.
For its part, the power delivered of 1.5 V per AA battery is common to most rechargeable batteries.
On arrival, we appreciate the great ease of use and, of course, the less polluting aspect.
But also the more economical side of these batteries: once purchased, we are quiet for a long time.
A price that remains high
There remains a welcome
boost
to the rechargeable battery market, which would represent 12% of batteries sold on the Net, according to the Gfk.
But an
expensive
boost .
At 29 euros for four batteries, the manufacturer is also charging the price of its innovation, with batteries up to three times more expensive than those of other brands, such as Duracell or Varta.
Varta who, in a document dedicated to
e-vendors
which we came across while preparing this article, specifies in his “Good to know” advice that “lack of knowledge of prices (by the public) generates profit!
We can never say it enough: compare before you buy!
* With the various confinements, it soared by 13.4% in 2020 to reach 483 million units (or 60 million additional batteries, according to Nielsen IQ).
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