STRICTLY BUSINESS: BUT, WHO'S BEST? HOLIDAY PERIODS KEEP BATTERY SALES GOING, GOING

The motorized vehicle ran out of juice about 1 p.m.It had been going and going and going since the youngster had opened it earlier in the day.But never fear, Walgreens was here, and open for business from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. on Christmas Day.And the store had batteries -- ranging from the small AAA to AA to D and C, along with the 9-volters.The annual Christmas and New Year's holiday period keeps battery companies going and goingAbout 40 percent of batteries sold in the United States are sold during the final quarter of the year -- October, November and December.This keeps the battery companies going -- at each other -- as they devise ways to charge up sales during the holiday shopping season.Americans spend $1.9 billion annually on alkaline batteries for power-gobbling portable CD players, camcorders and remote-control toys. Many of these were handed to friends and loved ones during the holidays.During the past months battery companies have unveiled advertising campaigns to reveal their "new and improved" products guaranteed to outlast the competition.Duracell International, a part of the Gillette Co., controls about 50 percent of the U.S. battery market, and one of the interesting broadcast commercials shows second-ranked competitor Energizer's batteries losing power while toys using the "copper top" continue rolling.Energizer, by Eveready, an affiliate of St. Louis-based Ralston Purina, has used its beloved pink bunny to determine "the truth" -- an Energizer scientist hooked up to a lie detector must honestly say the battery lasts "55 percent longer in high-drain devices" or the caged bunny takes a dive into a large shredder.All that aside, a recent print-media color advertisement which appeared in the Southeast Missourian, included a manufacturer's coupon that could be used to save $1 on any two-pack of Duracell batteries.And you didn't have to send the coupon in to receive your discount. It was discounted instantly at the cash register.As for which batteries actually do last longer, what do you think?Just for curiosity, I looked at the batteries in two of the remote control devices at home.One of them contained Duracell batteries, another had Energizer.Both had been operating about a year without replacement. ... Regardless of which runs out of juice first, a year's performance makes the cost of the batteries a pretty good buy.Let's look, however, at an unscientific testing of several popular AA brands.The testing, said Consumer Reports in its December issue, included several brands -- Duracell, Energizer, Panasonic's new Plus Alkaline, and others.The batteries were tested in a Sony Walkman, being used an hour every day.

The results?"Their life was virtually the same," said Consumer Reports.All well-and-good say the competitors, but put the batteries in the newer, "high-drain" devices such as mini disc players and digital cameras and see what happens.Energizer says tests in those devices will prove its AA and AAA batteries, the two types that make up almost 75 percent of total battery sales, last 55 percent longer. Duracell, meanwhile, contends its batteries beat Energizer in every size category.And another industry leader, Rayovac Corp. of Madison, Wis., says its batteries last "as long or longer" than both Energizer and Duracell and costs a lot less. Panasonic's merely said its new Plus Alkaline batteries last longer than the "industry leader."Few people are going to do a side-by-side test to see how long this toy runs versus that toy, admits most battery company spokesmen. But they do follow packaging that says there is improved performance and they usually want a reliable, trusted name when they buy.The Walgreen Co., the nation's largest drugstore chain with almost 2,400 stores, said the competing claims likely do little to improve a particular company's sales.A Walgreens spokesman said Eveready and Duracell were good sellers, but he noted that Walgreens "private-label" batteries are also flying off the racks, adding that "our quality is right up there with the name brands, and with that quality we offer a lower price."Batteries have been around for a while.The first battery was developed in the late 1790s, by a Count Alessandro Volta, an Italian scientist. The original battery was known as the "voltaic pile," and consisted of a stack of pairs of silver and zinc disks. The pairs were separated from one another by disks of cardboard, moistened by a salt solution.Other big names in the perfection of the battery are John F. Daniell, an English chemist, who produced a primary cell in 1836, and a French physicist, Gaston Plante, who introduced the lead-acid battery in 1859.Through the years, scientists have designed small but increasingly powerful batteries for the growth in numbers of portable electric devices. One "lithlium cell" is so small that it is often called a "button battery," yet it produces voltages higher than any other single cell.

B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.