This technology strategy assessment on lead acid batteries, released as part of the Long-Duration Storage Shot, contains the findings from the Storage Innovations (SI) 2030 strategic initiative.
Lead batteries are very well established both for automotive and industrial applications and have been successfully applied for utility energy storage but there are a range of competing technologies including Li-ion, sodium-sulfur and flow batteries that are used for energy storage.
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.
In principle, lead–acid rechargeable batteries are relatively simple energy storage devices based on the lead electrodes that operate in aqueous electrolytes with sulfuric acid, while the details of the charging and discharging processes are complex and pose a number of challenges to efforts to improve their performance.
Electrochemical energy storage in batteries is attractive because it is compact, easy to deploy, economical and provides virtually instant response both to input from the battery and output from the network to the battery.
Because such morphological evolution is integral to lead–acid battery operation, discovering its governing principles at the atomic scale may open exciting new directions in science in the areas of materials design, surface electrochemistry, high-precision synthesis, and dynamic management of energy materials at electrochemical interfaces.