Should Lithium-Ion Batteries Have Standardized Form Factors?
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on July 24, 2020, 12:01 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Lithium-ion batteries are a great invention, as they have allowed for devices that are lightweight, durable, and can remained charged for long durations, and one of their best traits is that they can be adapted to virtually any form factor.
However, that trait means that lithium-ion batteries do not have standardized form factors at the present time; each brand has its own size and shape, which is obviously very annoying to the consumers. Some of the most obvious examples of practice are power tools and laptop computers, where only batteries manufactured by the same company as the device itself are physically compatible with those devices.
I severely dislike this, because it is obviously a way for the companies to make more money by forcing the customers to purchase their own batteries. Alkaline batteries have standardized form factors (the most popular being AAA, AA, C, and D), so why is that not the case for lithium-ion batteries, as well? Can you imagine how horrible it would be if alkaline batteries did not have standardized form factors? Having standardized form factors would give the customers greater options and help to decrease the prices, so I really wish that someone would make an effort to promote standardized form factors for lithium-ion batteries?
What does everyone else say about this? Should lithium-ion batteries have standardized form factors?
Daveslab2022 says... #2
I think the main difference is what they are used for. Lithium-Ion batteries are used for phones and laptops, which don’t have a uniform size/design.
Alkaline batteries are used more universally, and also aren’t designed to be recharged, but disposable.
Of course it would be ideal if a laptop and a phone had batteries that are typically replaceable by the consumer, as opposed to being brought into a shop.
I do agree they should have a standardized form but thanks to capitalism and corporate greed, this will probably never happen.
Wasn’t it just a few years ago that a bill was passed (in the USA) that required all android phones to use the same charging port? We are a long way off from intelligent design, unfortunately.
July 24, 2020 12:09 p.m.