[
We're on a mission, investigating batteries.
Teaming up with Ontario Tech University.
Ready to do some testing for us?
Yes, sir.
[Steven] Putting some big brands to the test.
We want to know how long they last and if more expensive
batteries give the better bang for your buck.
I usually get either Duracell or Energizer.
They usually, performance-wise, are better than
most of the other ones.
Believe in Panasonic.
[Steven] We hear from a lot of you about batteries.
They don't last.
They are sloppy top batteries.
They don't last as long as they used to.
[Steven] Battery makers have big promises like "long life",
"long lasting power", "30 per cent more power".
E-circuit ultra-alkaline, e-circuit super heavy duty.
[Steven] We buy ours at Dollar Stores where Double AAs are
about a dollar.
How many do we need?
I think we're going to need all of these.
[Steven] And Walmart.
This is great value, right?
[Steven] And Canadian Tire.
-Oh, they're right there. -Double AA times 12.
Here we go.
[Steven] Where we also wonder if bigger packs might
be better value.
Prices vary from place to place.
This pack sells for 29.99.
The claims?
"Up to 50% longer lasting" and "protects your
devices from leakage."
Ultra-alkaline for high tech devices.
[Steven] Here's a lesser-known brand that's much cheaper.
All a dollar twenty-five each.
[Steven] Sounds great but do dollar store
batteries really deliver?
[voice] It's a battery cycler.
[Steven] We plan to find out.
And what it lets us do is simulate charging
and discharging.
[Steven] So rather than plug in my RC racer, we can just let
this machine do all the work.
Six brands and 240 batteries to put to the test.
In the meantime, I'm getting together all
our used batteries.
Problem is, sometimes it's hard to tell if
they're really dead.
[voice] Quite a bit of bounce to it.
[Steven] A lot of you want to know that too.
And ask about this...
A battery drop test.
To show if a battery is still good.
The theory is that if it bounces your battery
is dead, throw it away.
And if it goes down straight, doesn't bounce, like that.
It's good.
[Steven] We've got other tools to help.
This is a battery checker you can get for about ten bucks.
[Steven] It tells us if batteries are good,
low or questionable.
And we have a voltmeter to really see how much juice is
left in a battery.
[tester] It's a 1.5v battery.
Fresh out of the pack it's actually more than 1.5, right?
[Steven] That one's new.
The battery checker... Question mark.
[Steven] But we think this one is dead.
[tester] So, we really don't know.
[Steven] First the bounce test.
-That was a bounce. -That was a bounce!
[tester] Now let's do the voltmeter.
1.32.
[tester] But the test said it was dead.
[Steven] Experts tell us anything with more than one
volt left might be enough to power a low drain device
for a short time.
So, what we have just discovered here, is that the
bounce test does not work.
Right.
[Steven] Back in the lab.
So, we had some of the dollar store batteries up against some
of the big name brands here.
[voice] Exactly, yeah.
[Steven] Time for our first lab results from one set of dollar
store batteries.
These ones, known as carbon zinc or zinc carbon.
We get these e-circuit for a dollar twenty-five
for a pack of eight.
Pretty cheap!
Recommended for low drain devices like remotes,
wall clocks and flashlights.
And these Panasonics for a buck 25 too.
The packs say, "super-heavy duty."
But are they?
The jargon around that term dates back to the
70s and it worked.
It significantly affected an entire generation of
battery consumers.
[Steven] Columbia University Engineering professor
Dan Steingart studies the energy capacity and efficiency of
disposable batteries.
I'm glad you did a head-to-head comparison of the zinc carbon.
[Steven] Here's our test in low drain that's similar to using
these for something like a computer mouse or tv remote
continuously the carbon zinc dollar store batteries last
only about seven or eight hours.
The longest lasting alkaline?
Stuck it out for 27 hours.
I used these as a kid and as I learned more and more about
batteries, I couldn't understand why
they're still sold.
[Steven] What do you see on the back there?
Remote control, clock, radio, that's what I usually
do with it.
This one is like toys, so...
[Steven] Do you usually check out this information?
Not really, no.
Never, I never do.
[Steven] So many of you tell us you don't check the
manufacturers' recommended use.
So, we wonder what would happen if you throw these in a
device that draws a lot more power like a remote-controlled
toy or high powered flashlight?
These ones lasted six minutes.
Wait, six minutes?
That's kind of surprising.
6 minutes.
Okay.
All right, so don't buy those.
I've run similar tests to what your independent study showed,
and I came up with the same results.
I couldn't find a single use case where the zinc carbon
outperformed in any way the alkaline cells.
There's no reason to sell a zinc carbon system in 2022.
[Steven] Panasonic says carbon zinc batteries are an
established technology and provide great performance when
used in recommended devices.
Dollarama says they want to give customers a range of
options at low price points, and Dollar Tree confirms they
import and sell e-circuit carbon zinc batteries.
For the alkaline battery you get three times capacity.
So, an alkaline battery has three times more capacity than
the carbon zinc batteries?
Yes.
[Steven] One test down.
Next up alkaline double AA's.
In this simplified test we're simulating how you use them in
everything from a computer mouse, game controllers to high
powered flashlights.
We have lots of little things, you know, the TV remotes.
It adds up pretty quickly what we're using.
[Steven] Our test is also considering value looking at
capacity and cost but before we even get to the test...a hitch.
Leaky batteries in a new pack.
This is Duracell here.
We found in the package and as you can see,
there's, you know, materials out here.
This is the leakage.
[Steven] We hear about this issue from viewers
across the country.
Looked at the remote and it wasn't working, and the
batteries had leaked.
Wow. One, two, three, four, five--
Six double A's.
-Yeah. -Wow.
That's a lot.
[Steven] And during our battery drop test this happens.
[tester] Oh! Eww.
Well, that's not good.
[tester] Oh my gosh!
Oh, this might be why it wasn't working.
Okay.
So, we had another pack of batteries do this to us at the
lab but those were Duracell, and this is Energizer.
[tester] This is Energizer.
[Steven] Some viewers tell us they contact
Duracell for refunds.
They did eventually reimburse me for the cost of the remote.
Which I thought was nice.
[Steven] Same with Energizer which has a no leak guarantee.
And promises to repair or replace devices damaged
if that happens.
Turns out this expert says leaks are by design.
So, there is actually a safety reason why these
batteries are leaking.
If a pressure builds up in, then they will slowly ooze out
their innards to avoid a burst event, which could
be more harmful.
And another reason is that they're stored at too
high a temperature.
[Steven] Both Duracell and Energizer say store batteries
in a cool environment to minimize the
possibility of leaks.
And Duracell asks for our leaky batteries so they can do their
own analysis.
We look at the alkaline cells from Dollar Tree and
Dollarama as well.
[Steven] Time to check in with our lab.
Where alkaline battery results are waiting and
there's a surprise.
If we look at the comparison per dollar you spent, and
surprisingly we get actually E-Circuit alkaline cell,
compared with other cells.
They hold their own against some of the bigger, more
well-known brand names?
Yes.
[Steven] Energizer lasts longest in all tests with
Duracell right up there and the other big brands too.
The surprise?
Those e-circuit alkaline and ultra-alkaline batteries we got
at Dollar Tree came in strong and so did Dollarama's
Panasonic alkaline plus.
In terms of these values in capacity per dollar you spend,
E-Circuit is the best one.
[Steven] Look at cost per capacity.
Test results show e-circuit alkaline, and e-circuit
ultra-alkaline batteries cost less per cell.
so do the Panasonic alkaline plus.
That's the headline.
Those dollar store alkalines
all perform nearly as well as
the big-name brands.
[Dan] When you see two things on
a shelf and something is twice
as expensive, you would expect
it to have some measurable difference.
There should be some value to this, and you might be
surprised if there's not.
[Steven] Both Duracell and Energizer send statements
saying they stand behind their products.
In the meantime...
I'm doing what more than half of Canadians do, taking all
these used batteries and sending them off for recycling.
Question is: will they actually end up where we hope they do?
Let's find out.
Canadians recycled 4.1 million kg of household
batteries in 2020.
A record says Call2Recycle, the biggest player in charge of
collecting and recycling this type of waste nationally.
What do you hope happens to them?
I hope that they get recycled, but I don't know what they
really do with them.
[Steven] Retailers in Ontario, Manitoba, BC, Quebec and
Saskatchewan all charge eco fees.
Have you ever noticed when you buy batteries there is an
eco-fee tied to them?
Not really, no.
[Steven] Our team pays 11 cents on a smaller pack and 2.40 on a
huge pack we buy.
About five cents a battery.
It's like a hidden tax or something.
I am happy with it because if you are using some sort of
battery and they are using that to recycle it then it's good.
So this is where it all starts, really.
[Steven] Dead batteries used to go to this plant near
Welland, Ontario.
But Call2Recycle says it just terminated the
company's contract.
So normally this entire warehouse here
will be full of batteries?
Yes.
Where are all those batteries now?
Well, they're not here.
[Steven] So, where are those batteries now ending up?
We do some digging and find out some of the batteries that used
to go here, are now going to a recycler in Michigan.
Is it the best thing for the environment to be shipping
batteries out of the country to be recycled?
I think it's an important question, I guess the emissions
associated with the transport negates the recycling benefits.
It's really tough to measure that.
But I would say to you that, really what we want is we want
to support local recycling solutions and certainly grow
the recycling economy as well.
[Steven] Jo-Anne St. Godard is with the
Circular Innovation Council.
The eco fees that people are paying especially in Ontario
are they a tax?
The eco fees are a decision by the producers whether they want
to finance wholly or partially their obligation by
passing those on to the consumers.
So, it's really their choice.
It's not a tax.
What should consumers who are paying these eco fees what
should they do about them?
They certainly need to ask questions of governments in
terms of where this money is going.
We want to make sure that consumers don't stop collecting
them separating them from their garbage and making sure that
they find recycling solutions.
Consumers continue to do their part.
You bet.
[Steven] All the more reason to shop carefully.
Looking at a dollar store wall like this the trick is you
might want to stick to alkaline.
Let me take a quick look at the name.
These ones were only $1.25.
These came from where?
From Dollar Tree.
Interesting.
So, if you compare price per unit--
This one's cheaper.
It's good to know.