ZPower supply disrupted

In a move to reorganize its business, ZPower LLC has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection.  The company provided silver-zinc rechargeable battery solutions to many hearing aid companies including Oticon and Widex. Although Widex manufactured the battery doors necessary for use with the Zpower battery, most other manufacturers outsourced this to ZPower.

This filing has put the supply of replacement batteries and battery doors at risk.  Therefore, many clients who have purchased hearing instruments powered by this system are left wondering about their next step.  All manufacturers are standing by their products and are working with clinics to find solutions for those clients.  In most cases the user can simply revert to using standard zinc-air batteries.

The Zpower system offered great flexibility by being able to use rechargeable or standard batteries as the needs of the clients changed.  However, some quality standard and consistency issues were observed and proved to be challenging for clinics and manufacturers. As of today, most manufacturers have put their rechargeable sights on built-in lithium power.  There are definite advantages to lithium in charge times and expected life-cycle.  Each manufacturer has their own version with some offering cases with built-in power that can recharge the hearing instrument up to three times before have to be plugged in again.

Should you have a Zpower powered hearing instrument and want to know more, please contact our office.  We will be happy to help answer your questions and guide you through your options.