A HeartSync Support Guide for Patients and Families
You are not the first person to ask why aren’t pacemakers rechargeable. In fact, we are asked this multiple times a week.
Many patients say to us, often with a half-smile:
“My phone, watch and toothbrush are rechargeable. Why on earth isn’t my pacemaker?”
It’s a very reasonable question. On the face of it, a rechargeable pacemaker sounds brilliant: fewer operations, less worry about the battery and maybe even less waste.
The real answer is more complicated. It’s a mix of safety, how batteries age, patient behaviour, technology upgrades and, yes, money. In this blog, we’ll walk through it in a calm, patient-friendly way – and explain how HeartSync Support can help you navigate all of this.
1. A short story: from early experiments to long-life batteries
Imagine going back to the early days of pacemakers in the 1960s and 70s.
Devices were big, batteries did not last long, and technology was moving very quickly. In that era, engineers did experiment with rechargeable pacemakers. Some early devices used rechargeable batteries that were topped up through the skin using an external coil. Patients had to hold a charger over the chest at regular intervals.
So, the idea isn’t new at all. It has been tried.
What changed the direction of travel was the arrival of very reliable, long-lasting non-rechargeable batteries, especially lithium-based ones. Suddenly, pacemakers could last roughly a decade or more without a single charge from the patient. Over time, these batteries proved to be:
Extremely reliable
Predictable in how they run down
Simple for patients – you don’t have to “do” anything
Because of that, the world of pacing settled on the approach we know today: Non-rechargeable pacemakers with planned replacement, rather than rechargeable ones that depend on regular patient charging.
2. How today’s pacemaker batteries actually work
Modern pacemakers use sophisticated lithium batteries designed specifically for medical implants. They are very different from the battery in a phone:
They are made to be stable over many years
They discharge slowly and predictably
They are built to minimise the chance of sudden failure
In everyday terms, that means:
Many people get 8–12 years (sometimes more) from a pacemaker battery
The device can give early warning (via your device clinic) when it is getting close to the end of its life
Your team can plan a replacement many months in advance, rather than rushing in an emergency
For most people, especially older patients, that often means only one or two generator changes in a lifetime.
From a safety and simplicity point of view, this system works very well. That is one of the main reasons companies and regulators have been slow to move away from it.
3. Why not just make them rechargeable?
On the surface it sounds like a simple swap:
“Take out the non-rechargeable battery, put in a rechargeable one, and add a charger.”
In reality, there are several big hurdles.
3.1 You’d have to remember to recharge – and the stakes are high
Think about how often people forget to charge their phone, watch or headphones.
Now imagine the same thing with a pacemaker.
For someone who is pacemaker-dependent, the device is not optional. If the battery runs down because it wasn’t recharged, the consequences could be serious:
Dizziness or fainting
Collapse
In extreme cases, life-threatening pauses in the heartbeat
With a spinal cord stimulator or a deep brain stimulator, missing a charge might mean pain or tremor returns until the device is powered again, unpleasant, but usually not immediately life-threatening.
With a pacemaker, forgetting is much more dangerous.
Engineers can add alarms, smartphone reminders and loud beeps, but it still relies heavily on human behaviour. People get ill, get distracted, travel, lose chargers, or simply forget. For a life-saving device, that level of dependence on memory and routine makes doctors and regulators very uneasy.
3.2 A huge ethical issue for the patient and medical team
If someone had a rechargeable pacemaker or ICD, they could choose not to have it recharged, this would raise very complex ethical and medical questions. Patients with capacity have the right to refuse treatment, even if that decision may shorten their life. A patient may be very young, perfectly well other than a pacemaker, and refuse a pacemaker recharge.
The impact of this issue is far reaching.
3.3 Over-charging, under-charging and battery “wear and tear”
Rechargeable batteries age differently from non-rechargeable ones. How long they last depends on:
How often they are charged
How empty they are allowed to get before recharging
How full they are kept most of the time
How hot they get while charging
Common patterns – such as “topping up” a bit every day, or running the battery very low before recharging – can cause the battery to wear out faster and become less predictable.
For a phone, that just means you get fed up and buy a new one.For a pacemaker, it could mean:
The battery ageing quicker than expected
The device needing replacement more often, not less
More uncertainty about exactly when it will reach the “safe” end-point
So ironically, a small rechargeable pacemaker might not last as long overall as today’s long-life non-rechargeable ones, especially if people’s charging habits are not ideal.
3.4 More complex device, more things to go wrong
To make a pacemaker rechargeable, you need:
A different type of battery
Extra electronic circuits to manage charging safely
A special coil or system inside the device to receive power from outside
Software to control all of this and protect against faults
Every extra piece of hardware and software is another thing that must be tested, monitored and proven safe over many years in many different patients.
Non-rechargeable pacemakers are not “simple” in an absolute sense – they are very sophisticated – but they are simpler than a rechargeable system. In something as critical as a pacemaker, that reduction in complexity is valuable.
4. Technology upgrades and “being stuck with old kit”
Another subtle issue is upgrading.
At the moment, when your pacemaker battery runs low and the generator is replaced, your team can also:
Move you to a newer model with better features
Improve MRI compatibility
Improved Remote monitoring features
Improved early warning systems
Further advanced automatic programming to suit individuals
In other words, the battery change is also a technology upgrade opportunity.
Now imagine a world where your rechargeable pacemaker could, in theory, be kept going for 20 or 30 years. On paper that sounds brilliant: “one operation and you’re done”.
The downside is that you might still be relying on a 2025-era device in 2045, with:
Older safety standards
Less capable diagnostic tools
Limited compatibility with future technology
Of course, you could still choose to have the device replaced and upgraded – but at that point you lose part of the benefit of having a long-term rechargeable system.
So paradoxically, very long life can trap people on older technology, unless the system is designed – and paid for – to encourage safe, regular upgrades.
5. Money and business models: would companies lose out?
The idea that companies might lose revenue if pacemakers were rechargeable? It’s a fair concern and it should be addressed openly.
Device companies make money when:
A new pacemaker or ICD is implanted
A generator is replaced
A new set of leads is used
If a rechargeable device meant fewer generator changes, then, yes, that could mean fewer device sales over each patient’s lifetime.
There is some tension here:
Health systems like the NHS are keen on fewer replacement procedures, they mean less cost and lower infection risk.
Companies, in a traditional model, make more money if more devices are used over time.
However, the picture isn’t quite as simple as “they’re refusing to do rechargeables to protect profits”:
Manufacturers already produce extended-life devices that last much longer and therefore require fewer replacements – they still bring these to market because they are clinically attractive and demanded by health systems.
There is active research into self-charging or energy-harvesting devices that could one day reduce replacements even further.
So, while financial incentives do influence how fast certain ideas move, the main reasons that rechargeable pacemakers are not standard today are still:
Safety
Reliability
The practical realities of patient behaviour
The complexity of the technology
At HeartSync Support, we think it’s important to acknowledge the economic piece without pretending it is the whole story.
6. “Keeping old technology going” and service pressures
There is also the issue of maintaining old technology.
In a real-world, cash-strapped health system, it’s easy to imagine a scenario where a rechargeable pacemaker is still “just about working” many years later. Under pressure, there might be a tendency to say:
“It still charges and paces – we’ll leave it in and not upgrade it yet.”
That could mean patients stuck with:
Older sensing and pacing algorithms
Less advanced remote monitoring
Potentially poorer long-term data about their heart rhythm
The current model, replacement roughly every 8–12 years, naturally forces clinicians to look at what is available now and offer upgraded devices where appropriate. A rechargeable device that “limps on” for many years could actually make it harder to keep people on the best and safest technology over decades.
7. What about the future – will we ever see self-charging pacemakers?
The good news is that research is moving in genuinely exciting directions.
Scientists are working on:
Energy-harvesting systems that use the movement of the heart or chest to generate electricity to top up the device
Wireless power transfer, where small implants could receive power from outside the body without traditional charging routines
More advanced battery chemistries aimed at combining long life with very stable behaviour
These ideas are still mostly in the laboratory or early testing stages. They show promise, but they must prove themselves over many years of real-world use before they can be considered as safe and predictable as today’s standard pacemakers.
So, will there one day be pacemakers that “look after their own power” with minimal input from patients?
Quite possibly, yes.
But we are not there yet – and until we are, most cardiologists and device companies will continue to favour simple, long-life, non-rechargeable systems that do not rely on patients remembering to recharge.
8. What this means for you – and how HeartSync Support can help
If you already have a pacemaker or ICD, or you are about to receive one, here are the key take-home points:
Your device almost certainly is not rechargeable, and that is normal.
It is designed to last many years without you doing anything to the battery.
Your device clinic will monitor the battery and let you know when it is time to plan a change.
A generator change is usually much simpler than the original implant, although it is still a procedure and carries some risk.
Research into more “future proof” and possibly self-recharging devices is ongoing, but not yet routine.
At HeartSync Support, we work with people who have pacemakers and ICDs every day. We can help you to:
Understand your battery reports and what the numbers actually mean
Make sense of your remote monitoring downloads and clinic letters
Talk through what to expect when a generator change is approaching
Explore questions about technology, upgrades and long-term planning in a calm, patient-centred way
Feel less alone and less anxious about something that is, for most people, completely invisible but emotionally very present
If you are worried about your device battery, confused by what the clinic has told you, or simply curious about what the future might hold for pacemaker technology, we are here to help you navigate it – with expert knowledge, clear explanations and genuine support.
Find out more about our Pacemaker Support Sessions.
