GEM, a novel lead-acid battery plate architecture developed by Hollingsworth & Vose, in collaboration with New Zealand-based ArcActive, won the top Innovation Award at the 2026 Battery Council International (BCI) Convention in Nashville on Monday.
The award, named in honour of Sally Breidegam Miksiewicz of East Penn Manufacturing, was presented by her son, Matt Miksiewicz. The GEM (Glass Engineered Material) technology was selected ahead of entries from companies including Silicon Joule – which received an honorary mention – as well as Etica AG and Terra Supreme Battery.
The technology represents a significant departure from conventional lead-acid plate design, replacing the traditional lead grid with a fibrous glass-based structure into which the active material is embedded. Developed jointly with ArcActive, the approach builds on earlier work using carbon veils, but substitutes a specially engineered glass nonwoven that offers both cost and performance advantages.
According to John Wertz, chief scientist at Hollingsworth & Vose, the concept originated with ArcActive’s work on carbon-based negative plates, which demonstrated substantially improved charge acceptance. “They could get two to three times the normal charge acceptance,” he said. “But carbon comes with drawbacks—cost, and catalytic gassing that leads to water loss.
GEM: replacing the carbon veil with a glass nonwoven
Hollingsworth & Vose proposed replacing the carbon veil with a coarse, acid-resistant glass nonwoven, manufactured using a papermaking process. The resulting structure is hydrophilic, allowing better penetration and retention of the active paste compared with carbon-based materials.
Nicolas Clément, R&D director at Hollingsworth & Vose, said early GEM prototypes confirmed that the glass-based structure could match the electrochemical performance of carbon systems while avoiding their limitations. “There was a strong belief that conductivity required a carbon backbone,” he said. “But once the lead network forms during battery formation, conductivity is not an issue. The glass actually improves how the active mass is distributed.”
Testing has been extensive, involving dozens of cells across flooded and AGM configurations, with validation work extending over more than a year. The partners report consistent gains in charge acceptance and durability, alongside reduced water loss and improved stability compared with carbon-enhanced systems.
Beyond automotive start-stop applications, the developers see opportunities in motive power and emerging vehicle architectures. “We can put twice as much charge into the battery in the same time, or the same charge in half the time,” said Wertz, pointing to benefits for opportunity charging in forklift fleets and for auxiliary batteries in electric vehicles.
While the GEM material itself can be produced at scale, commercial deployment will require modifications to existing battery manufacturing lines, particularly in lugging and pasting processes. As a result, the technology is currently being evaluated at pilot scale, with samples supplied to battery manufacturers worldwide.
Clément described the award as an important validation for a technology that challenges long-established design principles. “It’s breaking more than 100 years of how we make lead-acid plates,” he said. “This gives credibility that it’s not just an idea – it’s something real.”
With backing from Hollingsworth & Vose and ongoing collaboration with ArcActive, the partners are now focused on scaling and industry adoption of GEM. “We’re past the high-risk phase,” Clément added. “Now it’s about patience and proving the value to customers over time.”
Photo: John Wertz, Chief Scientist, Hollingsworth & Vose; Nicolas Clément, R&D Director, Fibre and Energy Solutions, Hollingsworth & Vose
Credit: James Snodgrass
