If there's one thing I've learned from years of working with data center operators, consulting engineers, and mission-critical infrastructure teams, it's that conversations about battery technology often begin with long-held assumptions.

Some of those assumptions were accurate years ago, while others have evolved alongside the technology itself. Yet many continue to shape how organizations evaluate battery safety, system performance, and total cost of ownership.

Battery technology has changed significantly over the past decade, particularly as AI infrastructure has increased power density requirements and raised expectations around uptime and reliability. As a result, many of the questions that arise today extend beyond technical considerations. They influence purchasing decisions, permitting discussions, infrastructure design, and ultimately how organizations think about risk.

Below are four of the most common questions and misconceptions I hear about nickel-zinc battery technology, along with the realities behind them.

Prefer to watch? I've also covered these topics in the companion video below.

Misconception #1: Thermal runaway and ground faults are the same thing

This is probably the misconception I spend the most time addressing because the two terms are often used interchangeably. In reality, they describe two fundamentally different events and understanding that distinction is essential when evaluating battery safety.

Thermal runaway is a chemistry-driven event that can occur in certain battery technologies, causing temperatures to rise rapidly and potentially leading to thermal events. Ground faults are entirely different. They are electrical events that occur when stored energy unintentionally connects to ground.

Ground faults can occur with any battery chemistry and are addressed through proper system design, protective devices, and installation practices.

ZincFive's nickel-zinc batteries use a non-flammable aqueous electrolyte rather than the organic solvent-based electrolytes found in some other battery technologies. Tested using the UL 9540A methodology, a widely used benchmark for battery safety evaluation, ZincFive's nickel-zinc batteries demonstrated no thermal runaway at the cell level.

Conflating thermal runaway with ground faults can lead to confusion because they are fundamentally different risks that require different mitigation strategies.

Misconception #2: Nickel-zinc batteries take too long to recharge

Nickel-zinc batteries follow a different charging strategy than many competing technologies. Following a discharge event, the battery allows the cells to cool below approximately 40°C (104°F) before recharge begins. Once charging starts, nickel-zinc chemistry can accept charging currents that are two to three times higher than many competing technologies.

Recharge speed is only part of the story. Nickel-zinc can deliver maximum power even at very low states of charge, meaning critical loads can be supported before the battery has fully recharged.

Misconception #3: Battery monitoring alarms are just noise

I understand where this perception comes from.

Part of it stems from early systems that weren't always well tuned, with alarms firing for conditions that didn't warrant attention until operators learned to ignore them. Part of it reflects how battery monitoring used to work. Years ago, monitoring often meant someone walking into a battery room a few times a year, collecting data, and filing a report. It was largely reactive.

Today's data centers operate very differently.

Modern battery monitoring systems provide continuous visibility into battery health, operating conditions, trends, and alarm conditions. Rather than simply alerting operators when something has already gone wrong, they provide information that helps identify developing issues before they become operational problems, allowing data center teams to be proactive and better protect uptime.

The ZincFive BMS reflects this shift. Purpose-built for nickel-zinc and informed by years of operational experience across more than 2GW of deployed or contracted systems, it moves beyond the traditional model of a single alarm triggered after a battery has already failed. Instead, it uses tiered alarm responses, including warnings, errors, and faults, across key battery performance metrics, with defined thresholds that help operators identify issues early and take action before they affect system availability.

Battery monitoring isn't about creating more alarms. It's about giving operations teams actionable information they can use to maintain uptime and identify issues before they become operational problems.

Misconception #4: Nickel-zinc batteries are more expensive

This conversation almost always starts the same way. Someone compares the price of one battery cabinet with another and assumes they've answered the cost question.

In reality, that's just the beginning of the discussion. Data centers don't buy battery cabinets. They build complete backup power systems.

In many applications, nickel-zinc systems require roughly half the number of battery cabinets as competing technologies, reducing footprint and improving overall system economics. But the conversation extends well beyond cabinet count.

Because nickel-zinc batteries use a non-flammable aqueous electrolyte and do not exhibit thermal runaway at the cell level, the surrounding infrastructure can look very different from systems built around more volatile chemistries. Fire suppression systems, burn-rated walls, permitting requirements, maintenance, replacement intervals, and other system-level considerations all contribute to total cost of ownership.

Evaluating one component in isolation can miss the broader engineering and economic tradeoffs that shape the design of an entire backup power system. The most meaningful cost comparison happens at the system level, where performance, reliability, safety, and operational complexity all play a role.

Why it matters

As AI continues to reshape the data center industry, informed decision-making becomes more important than ever. These are conversations I have with operators, engineers, and infrastructure teams every day, and the goal is always the same: to ask better questions, make smarter tradeoffs, and build safer, more resilient power systems.

Because the choices organizations make today will influence not only performance and reliability, but also how the next generation of data centers is designed and operated.