Battery manufacturers like Duracel and Energizer, however, frown on this practice citing potential corrosion or seal damage from the moisture without any additional battery life. Instead the company recommends storing batteries between 68 and 78 degrees F at 35 to 65 percent humidity. Under those conditions, alkalines should last between five and seven years, carbon zinc for three to five years, and lithium cells for 10 to 15 years on the shelf.

Lead-acid batteries also excel at holding a charge, which makes them ideally suited for intermittent utilities like railroad crossing signals where a single battery may be used for up to 25 years. and where weight is not an issue—sayAccu Toshiba Satellite A105, as emergency backups for hospitals, telecommunications centers, and server farms—lead-acid batteries are routinely employed given their long shelf-life. The US Navy even employs enormous lead-acid batteries to drive the electric propulsion of its modern nuclear submarines.

Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries are very similar to their NiCd cousins in their construction with both using nickel oxyhydroxide cathodes and both producing a terminal voltage of 1.2V. NiMH batteries however replace the cadmium anode with one made from an hydrogen-absorbing alloy made from a mix of rare earths (either by combining lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and praseodymium or by using an amalgamation of nickelAccu Toshiba Satellite L10, cobalt, manganese, and/or aluminium) and use an alkaline electrolyte, typically potassium hydroxide. This grants the NiMH both 200-300 percent the capacity of a NiCd and a current output close to that of a Lithium-ion cell. In some high-performance applications the anode may also be made from a titanium/zirconium compound which boost its capacity further.

The lead-acid wet cell reigned as the dominant—well, only—form of rechargeable battery for 40 years. In 1899, Swedish inventor, Waldemar Jungner, devised the Nickel-Cadmium cell. His Ni-Cd wet cells were more powerful and more sturdy than older lead-acid format. Unfortunately, very few people in America had ever heard of Jungner or his work (though he did eventually start his own battery company in 1906), so the discovery went widely unnoticedAccu Toshiba Satellite E305. It wasn't until 1902, when Thomas Edison created his own Nickel-cadmium cell, that the technology gained a foothold in the US.

LCO batteries offer numerous advantages over nickel-based cells. Lithium cells are smaller, lighter, more energetically dense, and able to operate within a much wider temperature range than other rechargeable—essential features in high-tech, high-drain, gadgets and mobile devices. What's more, lithium-ion batteries have a much lower self-discharge rate than other secondary batteries. LCO's lose just 5-10 percent of their charge per month, compared to more than 30 percent a month for NiMH cells and 10 percent a month for NiCd batteries.

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