Longer version: An oxyride battery on display in Japan

In June, Panasonic will introduce Oxyride batteries: AA and AAA disposable batteries that the company calls ?the most significant developments in primary battery technology in 40 years?. According to Panasonic, these batteries last up to twice as long as premium alkaline batteries like Duracell Ultra ($5 for four), yet cost the same as regular alkalines ($4 for four).

Astounded yet? Then get this: Oxyride batteries are also supposed to deliver more power. The result, the company says, is that battery-operated toothbrushes spin faster, flashlights shine brighter, camera flashes are quicker to recharge and music players produce richer sound.

Those are pretty fantastic claims, but Panasonic is certainly right about one thing: the time is right for some technical improvement in batteries. Technology has marched on in just about every other corner of modern life, but people still tiptoe nervously through parties and weddings with their digital cameras, anxiously rationing shots so they?ll have juice left for the big moment.

No wonder, then, that in Japan, the Oxyride batteries have captured 10 per cent of the battery market in the one year they?ve been available. In fact, Panasonic predicts that Oxyride will eventually wipe out alkalines just the way alkalines blew regular ?heavy-duty? batteries off the map. Skeptics, however, are surely entitled to scoff, especially at that part about brighter flashlights, faster fans and better-sounding music. Aren?t these gizmos somehow voltage-controlled so that they shine, spin or play at a certain rate, regardless of the battery?

Armed with a stopwatch, I spent several exceedingly boring days conducting battery-drain tests with identical pairs of flashlights, screwdrivers, cameras, hand-held fans and swimming bathtub fishies.

As it turns out, the power-boosting effect is no marketing concoction; it?s real. In identical flashlights, Oxyrides produce an obviously wider, whiter circle of light than Duracell Ultras. You can immediately tell the difference in portable fans, too, because the Oxyride fan hums at a higher pitch, a musical step higher than the Duracell one. The Oxyrides even make power screwdrivers spin faster: 364 rpm, compared with 316 rpm for the Duracell Ultras.

Then there?s that bit about Oxyrides making MP3 players and CD players produce richer, fuller sound. Panasonic cited a test in Japan in which 80 per cent of the players in an orchestra said they preferred the sound from an Oxyride-powered music player.

This one?s a tougher call. In blind tests, most people couldn?t tell any difference between a CD player with Oxyrides and one with regular alkalines. A few identified the Oxyrides as maybe being a bit richer-sounding, but said that the difference was awfully subtle. All participants confessed, though, that they were not members of a Japanese orchestra.

Amazingly, then, Panasonic Oxyrides do deliver more power, for the same price as ordinary alkalines. To be precise, they deliver 1.7 volts, which is 13 per cent more juice than the 1.5 volts of alkalines. According to Panasonic, Oxyrides get their power not only from an improved chemical makeup, but also from a vacuum-assembly machine that packs more ingredients into the same space.

But what about the primary claim, that Oxyrides last longer than alkalines? The answer is complicated. In rundown tests (put the batteries in, run nonstop till they?re dead), Duracell Ultras, and even regular alkaline Duracells, actually beat the Oxyrides. In a krypton-bulb flashlight, the Oxyrides ran for two-and-a-half hours; Duracell Ultras lasted 35 minutes longer. An Oxyride hand-held fan died after an hour; Duracell Ultras had another 25 minutes in them. And in a really cute swimming fish bathtub toy, the Oxyride fish gave up the ghost after 8.5 hours; a pair of ordinary alkalines kept finding Nemo for an amazing 25 hours, nearly three times as long. (NYTNS)