lead-acid batteries

Thousands of battery jobs risk being axed in Europe and ‘exported’ to overseas competitors as a result of unnecessary and restrictive legislation, lead-acid industry bosses have warned.

A European Commission proposal for an “in-effect ban” on the use of four chemical compounds, mainly used in the manufacture of lead batteries, is still on the table, the head of the International Lead Association (ILA) Dr Andy Bush has warned.

Lead-acid batteries and lithium raw materials have been dragged into the now highly-charged trade tariffs bust-up between the US and China.

President Donald Trump has ordered that “lead-acid batteries of any kind” be included in a new list of $200 billion worth of Chinese imports subject to tariffs of 10%. 

Authorities in China are being urged to shut down “substandard” secondary lead production facilities as part of moves to boost the recycling of lead-acid batteries.

China’s lead consumption largely depends on the use of secondary lead, the chairman of the China Industrial Alliance of Renewable Energy, Li Shilong, told the Shanghai Metals Market Lead Zinc Summit in Guangxi Province.

East Penn Manufacturing has signed a commercial arrangement with New Zealand-based ArcActive to further develop carbon fibre electrode technology for lead batteries.

East Penn chief operations officer Bob Flicker (pictured) said the move will allow the lead-acid producer to “scale up the manufacture and testing of batteries” using ArcActive’s electrodes.