Should we be worried?

I’m not worried. I don’t stock batteries near as hard as ammo, but I have enough to last a long time :smiley:
And every time I order a Sofirn light, I get it with the battery. Good batteries at low prices.

Given how many laptop pulls I have that are still absolutely usable, I’m not worried about the unused (except for capacity checks) and otherwise brandy-new 30Qs, etc., I got stored.

Mostly I use come-with batteries (Sofirn/Wurkkos/Wuben/Nitecore/etc.), and they’re still going strong.

So between the expected long life of the cells (used and unused), and anything that takes 18650 or larger (if any 21700s/26650s go teats-up), I’m probably set for life.

Soooooo, nope, ain’t worried.

It seems lately that 18650 batteries are of short supply and have higher prices. I recently bought some batteries for a higher price than normal from an online store rather than continue to wait for another store to get them back in stock for a lower price. I bought them fearing that they may also go out of stock.

I wouldn’t be that worried about them going crazy high priced in the future. If anything, since there will be more of a demand for them, there should be more of a supply and hopefully reasonable prices. Not like our much needed Li-ion batteries to power our flashlights are going away due to some new chemistry any time soon.

Battery prices are expected to fall to $50/kWh by 2025. So our 18650/21700s should drop in price substantially instead of rising.

Stocking up on batteries is like stocking up on milk. They are just gonna go bad before you use them.

Ammo is a completely different story.

Got milk ?

Oh yeah ....we gots lots a milk

Having been through several hurricanes, floods and a recent deadly winter storm causing weeks long power outages, I like to keep a good supply of batteries for myself and my family. I have a looooot of flashlights :smiley:
I probably have around 50 cells stored at 3.6V in nonconductive, watertight containers in the the fridge. Half of those are good laptop pulls tested for capacity, IR, and long-term self discharge, I keep another few dozen charged in my various working lights.

Ammo is a whole nother story. I’m ready for the zombie apocalypse.

Ammo can go bad as well. I live in a humid environment. Have a room dehumidifier, and everything packed tight into ammo cans (some of which have desiccant paks) which are stored in safes….ok, cabinets that lock.

Still, it can go bad.

18650s are still cheap and plentiful. Assuming you buy from “2nd tier” manufacturers like Molicel or DLG or Lishen.

The traditional big names (Panasonic/LG/Samsung/Murata/etc) don’t seem to be making 18650s that much any more. But I don’t blame them - auto manufacturers are paying those guys billions for EV batteries. They probably prefer to deal with a few customers who have very deep pockets instead of lots of customers who just want 1 case of batteries.

Dont get me wrong, I have my share of batteries and always look out for good deals. I probably have 12 new 21700 and 12 18650’s and 26650’s not to mention al the used ones already in lights. I also have about 100 rechargeable AA and AAA, 50 or so new alkaline, and a bunch of button cells like 2032.

I dont consider this stockpiling, just a normal consumer of batteries.

Similar discussion back in April…

https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/66264

They were saying same thing 5 years ago, and battery prices keep rising.
I don’t think supply-demand free market works with lithium batteries.
It’s obvious that governments keep forcing batteries with policies because they think it reduces emissions,. That’s why so many manufacturers switch to battery power. But this is unnatural because it’s driven by politics, not by free market. It is not sustainable so prices keep rising.

No do not be worried.

Ammo is another story. And it never goes down in price.

This was not common narrative 5 years ago, Tesla was considered a joke by the media, hit pieces were published with regularity and people were whining about how EVs cannot be viable. Tesla killers were common folklore.
Wholesale battery prices have been dropping for about a decade. Consumer prices are not quite the same story because manufacturers don’t actually condone our battery use, they sell in bulk for battery packs and some are diverted to single unit sales (often against manufacturers blessings).
Politics is actually slow to mandate EVs, its only in the last couple years governments are caring more than a soundbite.

So it does not work the way you are saying.

I just hope the quality keeps increasing.

three things:

1. since Milk was mentioned: we freeze Milk. ours lasts over a year. we freeze eggs, too.
2. about Ammo: try the refrigerator, not the freezer. cool and dry and dark similar to the bunkers militaries use to stockpile theirs.
3. now Batteries: go ahead and stock up. they are cheap enough. if shortages never happen it did not cost much to load up.

How do you maintain them? I have a few dozen and I find baby sitting them extremely tedious. Not many chargers (at least the inexpensive ones) allow you to charge/discharge the cells to a certain voltage.

I have enough to cover rotation (with the exception of 14500’s, of which I accumulated more than I’ll ever need searching for the best cell for my GT Micro NM1). At my age, and rate of discharge/ charge cycles on the various cells in use in my modest flashlight inventory, what I have will outlast me by years. The only situation that would prompt additional stockpiling is if I needed matched sets for multi cell lights (which I’m just not into), new to me light/cell size, or better matching amperage specs for LED’S with unregulated drivers. I’m still looking for a quality sub 9A 26650 for my EA02 (that will fit in its under-bored tube).

I had to read this twice. You freeze milk and eggs? You are kidding right?

Some places have them now but a month ago I couldn’t find any Samsung 30Q or 35E. Also no LG MJ1.