Ranking brands is different from ranking batteries, of course, and it turns out to be a lot more complicated. You cannot necessarily trust that every battery made by one brand is automatically better than every comparable battery from any other given brand.
The highest-drain tests we referenced for Great Value were 3 amps, via Henrik K. Jensen. At about 1 amp, these batteries would provide about an hour of life. Great Value alkaline AAs have discharge curves that indicate a pretty standard alkaline performance — if a little low on capacity.
Still, we must acknowledge the good ones, and some of the more highly regarded brands in the Lithium-ion rechargeable battery space include Samsung, Sanyo/Panasonic (who also make good 1.2v Li-ion rechargeables), LG, Sony, Shockli, Keeppower, LiitoKala, AWT, Tensai, Windyfire and Efan.
Strictly speaking, 14500 batteries and AAs aren't the same things. They are the same size and shape, or close to it, but 14500 Li-ions (roughly 14 mm in diameter by 50.0 mm in length) batteries have a nominal voltage of about 3.7v. AA Li-ion batteries, on the other hand, are normally 1.2v, and standard AA batteries are nominally 1.5v.
This was driven by demand from its own models and growth in third-party deals, including providing batteries for the made-in-Germany Tesla Model Y, Toyota bZ3, Changan UNI-V, Venucia V-Online, as well as several Haval and FAW models. The top three battery makers (CATL, BYD, LG) collectively account for two-thirds (66%) of total battery deployment.
Wirecutter found that Deleepow's rechargeable batteries' capacities were often rated far higher than the batteries' actual, measurable capacities. The worst was the NiMH AA, which is rated by Deleepow at 3300 mAh, at the top of what is possible with an AA, but only measured 58 percent of that at 1917 mAh.