Have you ever thought about how your life would change if batteries didn't exist?

Check out A Timeline of Battery Milestones and How you can help your batteries be at their best.

CELEBRATING the BATTERY

What do these have in common?
BATTERIES The average household has 28 battery operated devices.

Have you ever thought about how your life would change if batteries didn't exist?

1. Going somewhere? Start walking because you couldn't drive a car or ride a bus.
2. Need to make a phone call? Better have a landline phone with a cord.
3. Love your remote car starter? Without batteries, key fobs & remote starters would not be possible.
4. Working on a laptop? Get used to keeping it at home—the battery is what makes it portable.

DID YOU KNOW? A Timeline of Battery Milestones

• 1748—Benjamin Franklin first coined the term "battery"
• 1800—Alessandro Volta invented the Voltaic Pile, made of zinc & copper discs with pieces of brine-soaked cardboard in between
• 1859—Gaston Plante developed the first practicle store lead-acid battery, which today, is primarily used in cars
• 1881—Carl Gassner invented the first commercially successful dry cell battery
• 1899—Walmar Jungner invented the first nickel-cadmium rechargeable battery
• 1901—Thomas Alva Edison invented the alkaline storage battery
• 1954—Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin invented the first solar battery
• 1985—John Goodenough, Rachid Yazami and Akira Yoshino contribute to the development of the lithlum-ion battery, stretched over almost 20 years
• 1988—First Batteries Plus store opened in Green Bay, WI
• 1997—The lithium-ion battery became available to the consumer
• 2009—IBM started the "Battery 500 project" to develop a new type of lithlum-air battery technology, capable of powering an electric car at least 500 miles on a single charge

WHAT have you done for you BATTERY lately? Feb. 18 is National Battery Day! To pay homage, help your batteries be at their best by:

• Always storing them in a cool and dry place away from heat and metal objects
• Turning off & turning down the brightness of the LCD or other accessories you're not using
• Never leaving them in a charger for more than 24 hours
• Occasionally turning your cell phone off while charging it
• Reduce the number of devices & programs running in the background of your laptop
• Keeping your laptop in hibernate mode, not standby
• Revoming them from equipment that is being powered by household charger (AC) over long periods of time
• Reduce Reuse Recycle
• Batteries Plus offers complete recycling solutions for many battery types as well as portable electronic devices
• When recycling make sure to keep batteries separated by type, and place a piece of tape over the contacts
• Make sure to check with your stare EPA for specific recycling laws on your typical everyday batteries
• Keep up the good work and continue recycling!

As we celebrate National Battery Day, just imagine where we'd be without these handy sources of power!