Duracell AA Ultra Lithium - genuine?

Hi,
bought these at eBay some time ago.





Does anyone know if these are real Duracells? I can't find any information on the Duracell homepage.
They all (got 12 of them) measure 1.86V and perform quite well.2787mAh at 1A / 2878mAh at 0.5A

I thought that Energizer had the patent(s) for AA / AAA lithium primaries ... :thinking:

A bit of digging found this thread ...

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/278046

It is a bit difficult to see in your photo, but is that a 2010 date code on your cells ?

Thanks
Yes, 2010 is the manufacturing date. This would fit to the expiration date of 2025.
Bought them at eBay Austria.
So it seems they are original and were only available outside the USA for a short time.

The funny thing is, that they accept recharging. I charged both empty cells with 100mA till they had 1.9V and could get another 1400mAh from both cells at 1A.
This does not work with any other lithium primary I know, so they must have some different chemistry.
I did this just out of curiosity and in the garage to be safe.

FYI, I was also able to find the MSDS for these (non-US) cells, and it clearly specified NOT to recharge these

The Duracelldirect.co.uk page still shows the original lithium AA announcement from 2010:

[url]http://www.duracelldirect.co.uk/blog/duracell-ultra-lithium-aa-batteries/
[/URL]

:thanks:

archimedes said:

I thought that Energizer had the patent(s) for AA / AAA lithium primaries ... :thinking:

Click to expand...

As I understand, this is only in the US. Other manufacturers sell AA/AAA lithium primaries in other countries.

Yes, US patents may not be generally enforceable outside of the US, I believe.

WOW, thread resurrection, I didn't know these existed. Everytime I went to Walmart and looked at the Energizer Lithiums, I wondered why there wasn't a Duracell version.