Activ Energy Super Alkaline Batteries

Last Updated on July 9, 2023

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Batteries are expensive. When I shopped around online for a name brand AA battery, even a large pack typically ran more than 50 cents per battery. And when I went in to my local Walgreens to get an 8-pack of Duracell batteries, I paid a dollar per battery … and that was when they were on sale.

Generic batteries are generally cheaper. Amazon sells generic AA batteries for about 30 cents a battery, while Rayovac, a budget battery maker, sells batteries that can be found in Walmart for as cheap as 24 cents a battery sometimes.

Aldi also sells batteries. They’re almost always found in the store’s checkout aisle, under the Activ Energy label.

Activ Energy Battery

Activ Energy Super Alkaline Batteries are a Regular Buy, which means you can find them in stores all the time. I’ve seen Aldi carry AA, AAA, and 9V batteries. (It’s possible they carry C or D cells, but I haven’t seen them.) At the time of this post, an 8-pack of AA or AAA batteries runs $2.49. That comes out to 31 cents a battery. That’s a pretty competitive price, especially when you consider that the price-per-battery numbers I mentioned before for Amazon and Rayovac can only be had if you buy bulk packages of 48-72 batteries. Outside of Aldi, the only AA or AAA 8-packs I know of that are cheaper per battery are from Dollar General.

Side note: Aldi sometimes packs batteries in with products that need them, and in those instances those batteries are virtually always Activ Energy.

Aldi batteries come in your typical battery packaging: clear plastic front, paper back. The batteries themselves contain your usual battery information, including voltage specs and all the usual warnings about how you shouldn’t throw them in a fire. Each battery also lists the country of manufacture (China) as well as the expiration date. The batteries I bought had an expiration date of a little over 6 years from the date of purchase, which I think is reasonable for an 8-pack. One small nit: the expiration date on the Aldi batteries is in smaller print than, say, Duracell.

Activ Energy Battery

The fine print. (Click to enlarge.)

Beyond price, though, the real test of a battery is longevity. How long does it last? To test that, we purchased a pack of standard AA Duracell batteries and put them up against the AA Activ Energy batteries. Our testing devices was a single LIGHTWAY 300 Lumen LED Flashlights, which we purchased from Aldi a while back. The flashlight takes 4 AA batteries.

Activ Energy Batteries

Our test device.

Our hypothesis was that the Duracell batteries would outlast the Aldi batteries.

Here were our results:

Brand Time to Dim Time to Die
Activ Energy 100 hours 137 hours
Duracell 120 hours 142 hours

In our flashlight test, the Activ Energy dimmed first, and a fair bit earlier than the Duracell. The Aldi batteries also died about 5 hours earlier than the Duracell.

What to make of this?

It’s important to note the limitations in our test. It’s just one test, and in different devices — like other flashlights or remotes — we might well have different outcomes. But the results mirrored what we suspected would happen: the Aldi batteries dimmed first and died first. The death time for the Activ Energy batteries was closer to the Duracell than the dim time, but the Aldi batteries were in pretty bad shape on the last day, moreso than the Duracell.

The Verdict:

If you’re looking for cheap batteries, Activ Energy Super Alkaline Batteries are definitely cheap. They are priced competitively compared to other budget batteries, especially when you take into account the fact that you don’t have to buy a huge pack to get a low per-battery price.

However, our test indicates that you get what you pay for. Although Aldi batteries do seem to last a while, they did not outperform the Duracell batteries we tested them against. Further testing is probably needed — and we’d love to have readers do their own tests on other devices — but at the very least this suggests that if longevity is your primary concern, you’ll probably want name brand.

On the other hand, if you are putting batteries in a device that you only use on rare occasion — the kind of device where the batteries are more likely to leak acid from age than to drain — then the Aldi batteries might be worth a look.

About Joshua

Joshua is the Co-founder of Aldi Reviewer. He is also a writer and novelist. You can learn more about him at joshuaajohnston.com.

15 Comments

  1. In spite of the earlier drain, the cost per hour of service is still a lot lower per battery with the Activ Energy’s. Duracell AA’s typically cost around $.65/battery.

    120 hours to dim / $.65 = approx $.005 per hour of Duracell runtime.
    100 hours to dim / $.31 = approx $.003 per hour of ALDI runtime.

    IOW, you’ll change batteries 20% more often, but still pay only 60% as much per unit of energy.

  2. Beware of the cheap ALDI batteries! Both the rechargeable as well as the regular AA & AAAs explode and leak powdery battery acid all over the inside of the battery compartments leaving corrosion throughout and rendering the items unusable. This has now happened to THREE different belongings of mine, a wall clock, a TV remote and an expensive Princeton Tec head lamp. I have taken photos and contacted ALDI customer service, so we will see what their response is.

    • UPDATE: Heard back from Aldi and they wanted the use by date and a bunch of info off the packaging, which I of course no longer had as the batteries were purchased over a year ago BUT still in date as per the below image. They have basically said they cannot help me any further, but “will forward my experience on to the appropriate department”. Bottom line is DO NOT BUY ALDI ACTIV ENERGY BATTERIES!!!

  3. We buy Aldi’s automatic toothbrushes. The batteries die out super quick, but I have yet to be able to put Duracell, Energizer, or Rayovac batteries in as a replacement. The device gets super hot but won’t run. We keep replacing the toothbrushes but will try Aldi’s batteries which come installed with Activ Energy AA’s if the do sell them at our Aldi. Sure hope I can find these batteries since no others work. I’m tired of throwing out good toothbrushes bcuz the batteries die.

  4. Has aldi’s corrected this by now and selling better batteries? Hope so .aldis is my go to store for almost everything.do they cell “d” batteries as well?

  5. Purchased Aldi 9 volt batteries for a stud finder 06/01/2021kept a spare battery in my pocket later in the day something started getting hot in my pocket. l pulled the battery out of my pocket the heat from the battery was untouchable. The heat generated from the battery would burn your hand if you held it or could destroy the appliance it was in. Aldi needs to review the safety of this product.

    • Any & every brand of 9 volt batteries should never be carried loosely, ever. Any conductive material (read metal or foil) in your pocket or pouch can cross the terminals and start a fire. Coins, keys, paper clip, jewelry are the most common items. There are cheap protective 9v battery battery terminal caps available for people like me who carry spare 9v batteries.

  6. If only one flashlight was used in the test, the batteries should be tested as follows:

    4 aldi 4batteries
    4 duracell batteries
    4 aldi 4batteries
    4 duracell batteries.

    Then examine ANOVA for aldi and duracell. Then compare aldi average to duracell average.

  7. yes these batteries do not last very long I bought some will not buy them again

  8. I have had Active Energy AA batteries in my blood pressure tester for just over 5 years now and they are still going strong. I actually went three years before I took the battery cover off and that was just to make sure they were not leaking. Anyway, the blood pressure tester is an A&D and it’s still going strong with these original batteries.

  9. I would recommend Active Energy over Duracell any day. My personal experience with Duracell have been leakage every time. I used to use the Duracells all the time, but over the last 10 years they have done nothing but leak. I have not had that issue with the Active Energy. I go with the Active batteries because they are cost effective. And their duration, has not been a problem. When you compare both to Duracell, the Active Energy comes out on top. Just do the math. For everything that I use a battery for, they have never been in anything for an extensive amount of time, nothing more than a year at least. If one wants a name brand I would recommend anything but Duracell.

  10. The batteries may vary in quality. The ones in NC, USA recently are made in Germany and have a negative end with circular grooves that match Varta’s cells. At $0.37 each, they shouldn’t be low quality; that isn’t _that_ cheap. Endcap pictures in a review: https://goughlui.com/2016/12/19/great-aa-alkaline-battery-test-pt-4-cell-physical-characteristics/

  11. I hope aldi’s batteries are good and safe. I have been wanting to try them.

  12. As Renard pointed out, a lot depends on country of manufacture. The ones I buy in Pittsburgh are made in Germany and quality is excellent. I’ve been using them pretty exclusively for the last 5 years or so and have had no leakage and no complaints overall.
    And I agree with Ben, they may not last as long as Duracells (who’s quality has gone down noticeably btw), but the cost per hour of usage is almost half that of the Duracells, so it’s really a no brainer. Say what you want, but I know what I know and Active Energy beats pretty much any other battery in my book

  13. I just replaced Activ AA super alkaline batteries in my thermostat. They were almost 20 years old!

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