New AA and AAA lithium-ion batteries with USB-C unveiled

Verbatim unveiled its new rechargeable batteries at IFA. The lineup includes AA and AAA models as well as a 9V battery. Instead of NiMH, Verbatim uses lithium-ion cells paired with voltage converters to ensure compatibility with conventional battery compartments, delivering 1.5V for the AA and AAA models and 9V for the larger battery. This offers an advantage over 1.2V rechargeable batteries, which do not work well with some devices, partly because those devices cannot accurately estimate their remaining capacity.

Verbatim could not tell us at its booth whether the batteries simulate a discharge curve like Nitecore's NH2400 or maintain a fixed voltage. A simulated discharge curve would allow basic devices to estimate the batteries' remaining charge. With a fixed voltage, the batteries could stop working abruptly and without any prior warning, which would be a disadvantage.

On the other hand, USB-C allows the batteries to be charged without a dedicated charger, including while traveling. Verbatim includes a multi-connector charging cable with the AA and AAA batteries, reducing the number of cables needed. Interestingly, the USB-C port on the AAA batteries has been positioned lengthwise. Acebeam uses a transverse orientation at this size, although its model is a 3.7V 10440 battery, as is common with USB-C rechargeable AA batteries.

The batteries have capacities of 0.75Wh for AAA, 3.15Wh for AA and around 3Wh for the 9V model. Verbatim also lists capacities in mAh, but the different voltages make these figures unsuitable for direct comparison. The AAA batteries are rated at around 500mAh, while the 9V battery offers "only" 335mAh. This could make the 9V battery appear to have less capacity, even though the 335mAh model actually stores significantly more energy than the 500mAh model.

According to Verbatim, the rechargeable batteries are expected to launch within the next few weeks. The company has not revealed any pricing details thus far.