Lead-acid battery makers and suppliers have been warned they face “the very real possibility of regulatory restrictions that could ultimately jeopardise” the entire industry.
International Lead Association (ILA) managing director Andy Bush (pictured) told the opening session of the 16th European Lead Battery Conference (ELBC) in Vienna lead batteries continued to have potential in terms of performance and applications for years to come.
But Bush said the ILA and industry partners Eurobat needed to “work harder than ever before” to combat moves by the European Commission to introduce restrictions that would, perversely, prevent advanced lead technology from supporting European Union efforts to reduce “harmful emissions and boost electrification”.
Lithium-ion, flow batteries and “a host of other technologies are already vying to be the sustainable energy storage technology”, Bush said. “But the sheer scale of battery energy storage demand in the near future – let alone in 20 years’ time – is so great that no single technology will be able to meet it.”
“Crucially, that’s something too few people – especially the policymakers – seem to grasp,” Bush added. “It is not a binary question of whether the future “will be lead or lithium – it should be both and others.”
Meanwhile, Eurobat executive director René Schroeder said time was running out and the “clock is ticking fast” towards European institutions enforcing regulations that would threaten the survival of the lead industry. In effect it’s “one minute to 12”, Schroeder said, highlighting the challenge he said his association, the ILA and others faced to defend lead.
Earlier this year, BEST Battery Briefing exclusively reported on a backdoor attempt to “choke off” supplies of key raw materials for Europe’s lead-acid battery industry.
And in June, the European Chemicals Agency confirmed it was adding lead metal to the EU REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) candidate list of substances requiring authorisation.