Technical advances in manufacturing techniques and applied technologies have been made for bi cell manufacture, and are currently being implemented in the areas of discrete electrode / bi cell assembly, and electrode / separator lamination. Not only have improvements been noted in the reliability of the mechanical assembly and the increase in yields and decrease in costs, battery electrical performance has also been enhanced thru these assembly techniques. Evidence has been shown that the lamination techniques can influence porosity and electrolyte dispersion, and therefore electrical performance and long term reliability of the cells.

The rechargeable alkaline manganese dioxide(RAM)battery system has reached a performance level that enables the consumer to utilize RAM for practically all applications where currently single use cells(alkaline manganese, zinc-carbon)are being used. In addition, it can replace nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride cells in low to medium power applications with much improved charge retention at higher operating temperatures and in intermittent use and works well with solar charging. A review is given on RAM cell performance as well as a comparison to competing rechargeable technologies. Potential new possibilities in the field of OEM(original equipment manufacturer) applications are discussed.