The minor conspiracy theorist inside me says, that battery makers probably ARE well aware of how to make batteries last forever, but has no incentive to.<br><br>Just look at anything electronic these days. Like printers, where not too long ago someone exposed manufacturers for programming the printers to start failing after a certain point in time or after a certain number of pages printed. Get inside an admin menu and doing a reset of sorts and suddenly you'd have a fully functional printer again. <br><br>I should know; I've once brought a used Samsung color laserprinter back to life by applying this method. Had that printer for an additional 3 years until a thunder storm knocked it out. <br><br>If nothing ever broke, how would manufacturers make money on new products or parts?