Progress in the Development of Lead-Acid Batteries for Hybrid Electric Vehicles

There is increasing interest, and indeed market growth, in hybrid electric vehicles, both for environmental and for economic operating reasons. However, the vast majority of hybrid vehicles currently on the road are powered by expensive nickel/metal hydride batteries. In order to maximize the benefits to be obtained by the introduction of these vehicles it is necessary to keep the cost attractive to the potential purchaser, so that fuel savings are not outweighed by increased purchase cost. Raw materials cost suggests that no major reduction in the cost of nickel batteries can be anticipated and thus considerable interest attaches to the possibility that batteries based on less expensive materials may be able to perform the necessary function, at least for medium and mild hybrids. The paper considers the work that has been done to overcome the problems associated with the use of lead-acid batteries in this application and describes some of the demonstration projects taking place in 2006