East Penn’s chief operating officer called for the industry to look beyond traditional lead-acid SLI batteries to compete with lithium-ion in automotive applications.
Keynote speaker Robert Flicker said lead-acid could easily compete when it came to hybrid, mild hybrids, and micro-hybrid vehicles that do not require high energy and long driving ranges.
To highlight his point he confirmed East Penn is conducting field tests on hybridised lead-acid-based vehicles with 42V electrical architectures during a debate at last week’s The Battery Show in Michigan, US.
To further prove how lead-acid can change with the times the ever present Advanced Lead-Acid Battery Consortium displayed a Dodge Ram truck at the show.
The truck uses a lead-acid battery as part of a start-stop system combined with a natural-gas-powered engine.
And with near-term advanced lead-acid-based battery systems being cheaper (round $100/kWh compared to $200-$300/kWh for lithium-ion) it must make more financial sense as well.
