Forget BL-5C, there are 36 mn fake batteries

NEW DELHI: Amidst widespread panic due to fear of overheating in Nokia BL-5C batteries, the cellular handset makers have warned against a bigger issue of about 36 million fake batteries currently in use in India. According to Indian Cellular Association (ICA), of the 45 million replacement batteries in the Indian mobile market, about 80% are counterfeit and unsafe.

Fake batteries of Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG, Samsung, and others are freely available in the market. Most batteries come at a nominal cost of about Rs 50 compared to a branded battery which costs about Rs 500. “These batteries have extremely poor (about 30%) performance compared to original batteries. The recharge life of these batteries is also about 20%. If a branded battery can be recharged about 500 times, a fake battery has a recharge life of just 100 times,” said ICA president Pankaj Mohindroo.

Meanwhile, ICA has cautioned mobile users against fake batteries. “Since these are manufactured in extremely poor conditions with manual welding, poor slitting machines and using non-standard coating material, most of these deliver very poor performance and may not be safe,” ICA said.

About 90 million mobile phones will be sold in India this year which will carry original (OEM) batteries. “Original mobile handset batteries are manufactured in sophisticated state-of-the-art plants,” said ICA. “These new generation lithium ion batteries are more environmental friendly than the earlier generation nickel batteries. The lithium ion batteries unlike the earlier generation batteries also carry a printed circuit board, which prevents overcharge and under charge that is, these batteries have their own intelligence,” ICA added.