Recent advances in lead—acid cell research and development

Abstract

The lead—acid battery is, and will be for the foreseeable future, the most widely used secondary energy storage system. It will maintain this predominant rôle because of its highly developed technology, its low cost as compared with other secondary systems, and its high reliability. During the last decade it has been demonstrated that the lead—acid system is able to provide an attractive energy source of sufficient energy and power per unit weight and volume for its successful application to electric vehicle propulsion. Worldwide basic research has contributed to the improvement of both active material utilization and cycle life. This will be shown by a number of typical examples, such as the relations between active material properties and capacity at high rates of discharge, the effect of acid stratification, and others. Simultaneously, the expenditure on the maintenance of lead—acid batteries has been minimized by the development of peripheric equipment such as recombination devices and means for central-automatic water refill. It will be shown that there is still a considerable potential for further improvement which might further strengthen the unique position of the lead—acid system in the market by comparison with competitive systems.