Lithium-Ion and Other Cell Chemistries 71 and hybrids as well as stationary energy storage, the EPS technology offers a strong value proposition and appears ready to make big strides in the battery marketplace ( Figure 2 ). Australian-based Ecoult has also introduced another evolution of the traditional lead acid battery, which they have branded as the “UltraBattery.” The UltraBattery has added a carbon electrode to the traditional lead acid battery, essentially adding an ultracapacitor into the lead acid battery.
Designed to achieve more “partial state of charge” cycles than the traditional VRLA lead acid batteries, the UltraBattery has proven to be capable of achieving thousands of partial state of charge cycles with no serious degradation in performance or capacity and has been tested in applications such as renewable energy smoothing, grid ancillary support, and HEV automotive applications. Both of these companies have proven that even after over 150 years, there is still more that can be done to improve the lead acid battery. They are proving to be very good and low-cost solutions to microhybrid vehicles, hybrid vehicles as well as for stationary grid storage and power backup systems.
If you are considering using a lead acid battery solution, there are a couple of trade and industry organizations that are dedicated to this product. One of the oldest and most important organizations in the lead acid industry is the BCI (Battery Council International, 2013) formed in 1925. BCI is a nonprofit trade organization working to bring together members of the lead acid community to develop industry standards, collect data, and generally promotes the exchange of information and ideas among its nearly 200 international members. Another important industry organization for lead acid batteries is the Advanced Lead Acid Battery Council (ALBAC) which was formed in 1992.
The ALBAC is “ an international research and development consortium dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of the lead-acid battery to ensure its competitiveness in various energy storage markets” (Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium, 2011). While this is a somewhat smaller organization than BCI, it is an Figure 2 Energy power systems planar layered matrix (PLM) battery.