Our area of expertise lies in industrial applications such as forklift truck lead acid batteries and we specialize in how to maximize the performance of the batteries to match and even reach beyond the life expectancy of the trucks themselves. In these applications the average guaranteed lifespan of a basic lead acid battery is around 1,500 cycles.
Extending the lifespan of the batteries will reduce the cost of the overall system, making lead batteries more attractive for domestic, commercial and industrial applications.
Improvements to lead battery technology have increased cycle life both in deep and shallow cycle applications. Li-ion and other battery types used for energy storage will be discussed to show that lead batteries are technically and economically effective. The sustainability of lead batteries is superior to other battery types.
Lead–acid batteries have been used for energy storage in utility applications for many years but it has only been in recent years that the demand for battery energy storage has increased.
Lead–acid batteries may be flooded or sealed valve-regulated (VRLA) types and the grids may be in the form of flat pasted plates or tubular plates. The various constructions have different technical performance and can be adapted to particular duty cycles. Batteries with tubular plates offer long deep cycle lives.
Initial estimates and tests suggest cycle-life during high-rate PSoC operation of lead–carbon batteries to be four to five times greater than a comparable VRLA battery (e.g., 12,000 cycles at 10% depth cycles with lead–carbon vs. 2000 cycles with standard VRLA).