Find Lead Acid Battery Manufacturer and Importers at One Market Place

Lead Acid Battery Industry across the Globe has seen a massive evolution in the last couple of years in all the vehicle segments with some bold steps being taken by leading battery manufacturers trying to change the placing of the BATTERY as a Product to the BATTERY as a Brand. This factors boosting this evolution includes the increased sales of auto industry and entry of new battery manufacturers in the market.

With innovative marketing & distribution strategies new battery manufacturers and battery importers are creating a separate category for the Battery.

This initiative of cultivating the consumer was swiftly grasped by the other manufacturers and a very forceful marketing program was unleashed. This move saw the otherwise dull industry flush with a lot of action and enthusiasm that generated a lot of interest among the consumers and the dealer distributor network which is an important link in the chain. Today, the battery is being spoken of in the industry in the same breath as the passenger car which exhibits the visibility and awareness that the strategy has created.

Industry Overview:

Worldwide primary and secondary battery demand is projected to rise at a nearly 7 percent annual pace through 2010. China will record the largest gains of any national market, sales increases are also expected to be strong in India, Indonesia, South Korea, Poland, South Africa, Brazil and Russia for similar reasons

Automotive battery segment is contributing more than 65% of the total Indian storage battery market.

The Indian Lead Acid Batter Manufacturer industry is poised to more than double within four years given the current rate of growth of over 25 per cent per annum

This being the case, the aftermarket is definitely outstanding with its sheer size and is rewarding due to better price and credit realization. Lately India has seen a surge in the sales of the passenger car segment which increased the overall sales of batteries.

The Life of Lead Acid Battery is generally 2 – 3 years and the boom in auto sales since last 5 years has pushed the sales of aftermarket battery market, the demand is so huge that there is always short supply in quality aftermarket battery.

The LEAD ACID BATTERY market in Indian Subcontinent is highly fragmented industry with very few manufacturers in Quality in BRAND segment and several battery manufacturers in tier 2 and tier 3 categories which have regional and national presence.

Most of these lead acid manufacturers have vast presence in Semi Urban and rural areas and cater to replacement battery market of Old Automobiles, Tractors, farm equipments, heavy commercial vehicles etc

India, now, accounts for about 14 major automotive manufacturers, and all of them are growing rapidly in India, and also looking at making India their home for exports. This would further enhance the overall market base. But what is significant is that the industrial batteries consumption is going up with the economy booming.

With the country short of power in several pockets, usage of inverters too, has gone up significantly, and this in turn is boosting the sales of inverter battery.

Battery Importers have also been contributing a lot to the short supply of batteries.

What is a B2B vertical portal?

A portal is an access point to the Wonderful World of Web without which the world today would again be living in the dark ages.

A portal serves its users with primary features and services, a b2b vertical portal is targeting one industry and has maximum information and penetration of that industry, it acts as a bas for traders, buyers, suppliers and other associates of the industry to access the information about the industry and each other. It becomes a medium to generate branding, inquiries and sales online.

A vertical portal is a trade specific portal which instead of concentrating on 100s of products from variety of trade concentrates only on single trade and its products.

A vertical portal generates very trade specific visitors and there with only very genuine inquiries.

What are the key Benefits of being a member with B2B portal?

B2B portal are absolute necessity of the industry, its not just a fancy idea, the advantages of a b2b portal are numerous depending on the features of the portal but the main advantage of any portal is that it can have immediate impact on the branding and reach of any company involved with it as its member.

• Increase in Sales:

New Sales from unexpected resources comes through a portal because it has collection of 1000 of WebPages and loads of information and any trade visitor would browsing the portal would try to build relations with some or the other members on the portal and inturn increase the sales.

• Increase in Branding:

When existing clients or new clients try to search for your company or product and they can't find you but your competitor is present online with website then it leaves very deep impression on the customers, today the trend is if you are missed online then you are missing your business in real world.

There are more traders who prefer to search, surf and source products and companies through Wonderful World of Web then in printed directory or magazines all across the globe, and from necessity it has become a habit of entrepreneurs to search online for every small thing they want - from honey moon package to importing machinery every thing is being searched online.

It leaves a huge dent on the branding exercise of any company when its prospective customer is trying to find them online and they get no information or now website of that company.

Once online the company's brand reaches the niche market across the country and globe and creates more brand awareness.

• Cost Savings:

Online advertising saves a huge amount for any company who can use the targeted online advertising at the right places and right way. It is a proven fact that B2B portals usually generates unexpected inquiries and results from across the globe with very little investment. WWW is spread across the globe and country and any company trying to advertise across the globe or across the country would end up investing 1000s of time more money then their online campaign.

Other major benefits include:

Low customer acquisition cost Effective portal branding on the Internet will help to attract customers from new sources. The cost of acquiring customers through online channels is always cheaper than other traditional methods.

Community participation Company buyers and sellers can create communities surrounding the B2B portal's discussion board. This helps getting valuable feedbacks on time, building new partnerships using the networking ability of a community, and disseminating important information to members easily.

Group Aakar is leading B2B vertical portal of battery industry that provides lead acid battery suppliers, Lead Battery, lead acid battery manufactures, Lead Battery Smelting Plant and Services for Lead Battery Recycling process. World’s first B2B portal on Battery industry for battery manufactures, suppliers, Exporters and more at Batteryind.com.

Who wins the market? Lead-Acid or Lithium-ion?

Lead acid (LA) battery is slowing running out of the energy storage race compared with nickel-metal hydrides and lithium-ions that entered the market with all the energy to win. Nickel-metal hydride (NmH) batteries are used in the current generation of hybrid cars and lithium-ion (LI) batteries are used in mobile devices. Many visualize LI to be the future of electric cars.

Even with all this, what the automakers intend is to create proper energy storage for startups and a light weight vehicle. For this, automakers need a lightweight battery that won’t interfere with a car’s all-electric range or design and at the same time is light in weight. Lead can be blamed to be one of the heaviest elements known to science with all its environmental hazards.

Ultra capacitors blended with the LA batteries have become the answer to this. They are called PbCs. Though ultra capacitors give low energy density and cannot measure up to the LAs in storing the power per kilogram, they excel in charge time and lifespan. Ultra capacitors can handle far more charge cycles than LI or LA batteries and they recharge quickly. This technology is brought in by Pennsylvania-based Axion Power International funded by Quercus Trust. Axion’s PbC batteries weigh half as much as traditional lead-acid batteries, while offering just slightly less storage capacity.

Axion’s PbC looks like a normal LA. What Axion has done is that it has replaced a stack of lead electrodes with a stack of activated carbon electrodes. “Axion replaces the lead-based negative electrodes found in conventional lead-acid batteries with carbon assemblies. The only [noticeable] difference is the feel”, says CEO Thomas Granville.

Like the conversion companies that have sprouted up to turn hybrids into plug-ins with battery packs, Axion says it can retrofit conventional trucks and SUVs to have an all-electric range of 40 miles-plus for less than $10,000.

Granville says, “Obama keeps talking about having a million hybrids on the road by 2012”, “Even with federal incentives to jumpstart the transition, switching 100 percent of the fleet over to clean, new vehicles would take decades”. PbC batteries offer a way to clean up vehicle emissions without trading out the entire national fleet. Axion favours a three-year, 50 percent tax credit for retrofits.

This year, Axion plans to ship-out a new mobile energy storage system for grid buffering, starting with a delayed New York State Energy Research and Development Authority project in upstate New York. Next to lithium of course, PbCs are still heavy.

When Axion pitched its technology to members of Freedom CAR earlier, the automakers wanted batteries at a maximum $87 per kilowatt-hour where Axion’s technology costed $240-$260 per kilowatt-hour (Lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries can cost upwards of $300 per kilowatt-hour). The deal thus, did not work out. Toyota seized the opportunity and proceeded with more expensive technology. This helped Toyota to capture a significant share in the hybrid battery market.

The battery industry is sure to take some time to learn the new technology but automakers can play a vital role in providing this technology at the door step of the end-user. Nevertheless, with ever better technology, one would need to shell out something more from one’s pocket at least in the initial stages.

Group Aakar is Leading company provides lead acid battery suppliers, Lead Battery, lead acid battery manufactures, Lead Battery Smelting Plant and Services for Lead Battery Recycling process. World’s first B2B portal on Battery industry for battery suppliers, manufactures ,Exporters and more at Batteryind.com.

Lead Acid Battery Industry has seen huge evolution in the last couple of years.

Worldwide primary and secondary battery demand is projected to rise at a nearly 7 percent annual pace through 2010 to $73.6 billion. China will record the largest gains of any national market, stimulated by healthy economic growth, ongoing industrialization efforts and rising per capita income. Annual demand in the country will climb by more than $7 billion from 2005 to 2010, and China will surpass the U.S. to become the largest battery market in the world. Sales increases are also expected to be strong in India, Indonesia, South Korea, Poland, South Africa, Brazil and Russia for similar reasons.

The total Indian storage battery market is approximately estimated at US$ 600 Million with the automotive battery segment contributing more than 65 percent of the overall market value.

In terms of volumes, the overall consumption of automotive batteries could be around 7.3 million units with the OE segment comprising around 1.5 to 1.6 million units per annum.

The Indian Lead Acid battery industry is poised to more than double within four years given the current rate of growth of over 25 per cent per annum.This being the case, the aftermarket is definitely striking with its sheer size and is lucrative due to better price and credit realization. Lately India has seen a surge in the sales of the passenger car segment which increased the overall sales of batteries.

The Life of Lead Acid Battery is generally 2 – 3 years and the boom in auto sales since last 5 years has pushed the sales of aftermarket battery market, the demand is so huge that there is always short supply in quality aftermarket battery.

The LEAD ACID BATTERY market in Indian Subcontinent is highly fragmented industry with very few manufacturers in Quality in BRAND segment and several battery manufacturers in tier 2 and tier 3 categories which have regional and national presence.

Most of these lead acid battery manufacturers have vast presence in Semi Urban and rural areas and cater to replacement battery market of Old Automobiles, Tractors, farm equipments, heavy commercial vehicles etc.India, now, accounts for about 14 major automotive battery manufacturers, and all of them are growing rapidly in India, and also looking at making India their home for exports. This would further enhance the overall market base. But what is significant is that the industrial batteries consumption is going up with the economy booming.

This will create opportunities for supply of industrial batteries in the telecom towers, railway usage and in the power sector. With the country short of power in several pockets, usage of inverters too, has gone up significantly, and this is not going to come down soon. Battery Importers have also been contributing a lot to the short supply of batteries.

The Famous Five Advanced Lead-Acid Batteries

You might have been hearing about batteries and cells since a child. A 60 year old man today might have used batteries in his transistors as a teenager. With the advancement in technology and our growth as an equipment and gadget major, batteries too have grown, rather out-grown our expectations. New technologies have brought-in alkaline batteries. However, lead-acid batteries could not be wiped out. Instead, it has developed and matured with new inventions and stiff competition.

1) What are LABs

Originally invented in 1859 by a French physicist, they have been used for a power source in machines and vehicles and have evolved somewhat with time. Inexpensive and able to supply the surge required to start an engine, they have a very low energy-to-weight ratio but a decent energy-to-volume ratio. What does that mean? It means that per pound, they aren't so hot but per-square-inch, they perform fairly well. To be more energy efficient, it is necessary to increase viability for the energy-to-weight ratio as well.


2) Types of Battery

Flooded lead-acid batteries immerse the energy-producing electrodes in liquid electrolytes and release gases upon charging, the most common example being a standard 12 volt car battery. Absorbed glass mat (AGM) batteries create energy by immobilizing electrolytes with a micro fiber glass mat. Gel cell batteries use fumed silica in the electrolyte, which hardens into a gel. Drying of the gel during charges causes a loss of performance in this particular lead-battery.

3) Battery Energy-Efficient

There are more efficient models of these lead-acid batteries in the works. Many companies are working on new or modified approaches of this longstanding battery technology to gain more power and better performance. These approaches take many forms including the use of lighter glass-mat materials, the use of new compounds like low sodium silicate, and the use of lighter materials like lead-tin alloys


4) Advanced LAB Consortium

Formed in 1992, the ALABC has been making advancements with lead-acid batteries for a variety of applications. In recent times much of this focus has been on improvements that could allow lead-acid powered electric vehicles to become a reality, a goal that has not met with widespread success outside of low-speed neighborhood electric vehicles. Worldwide research is pooled to allow a higher level of research and development than most countries would be able to perform alone.

Companies Involved in Development of Energy-Efficient Lead-Acid Batteries
According to the ALABC, four companies around the world have produced batteries that are providing especially encouraging results for vehicles and planes. East Penn and NorthStar Batteries in North America, Tudor Exide in Europe, and Furukawa Batteries/CSIRO in Asia have all provided batteries that are currently undergoing testing. A Swedish company, Effpower, is also road-testing a bi-polar lead-acid design in a Honda hybrid.

5) History Of Lead acid

Lead acid batteries were invented in 1859 by Gaston Planté and first demonstrated to the French Academy of Sciences in 1860. They remain the technology of choice for automotive SLI (Starting, Lighting and Ignition) applications because they are robust, tolerant to abuse, tried and tested and because of their low cost. For higher power applications with intermittent loads however, Lead acid batteries are generally too big and heavy and they suffer from a shorter cycle life and typical usable power down to only 50% Depth of Discharge (DOD). Despite these shortcomings Lead acid batteries are still being specified for PowerNet applications (36 Volts 2 kWh capacity) because of the cost, but this is probably the limit of their applicability and NiMH and Li-Ion batteries are making inroads into this market. For higher voltages and cyclic loads other technologies are being explored.

Lead-acid batteries are composed of a Lead-dioxide cathode, a sponge metallic Lead anode and a Sulphuric acid solution electrolyte. This heavy metal element makes them toxic and improper disposal can be hazardous to the environment. The cell voltage is 2 Volts.


• Charge, Discharge & Advantages

During discharge, the lead dioxide (positive plate) and lead (negative plate) react with the electrolyte of sulfuric acid to create lead sulfate, water and energy.

During charging, the cycle is reversed: the lead sulfate and water are electro-chemically converted to lead, lead oxide and sulfuric acid by an external electrical charging source.

Many new competitive cell chemistries are being developed to meet the requirements of the auto industry for EV and HEV applications.

Even after 140 years since its invention, improvements are still being made to the lead acid battery and despite its shortcomings and the competition from newer cell chemistries the lead acid battery still retains the lion's share of the high power battery market.

Advantages include low cost, reliable, over 140 years of development, robust, tolerant to abuse, tolerant to overcharging, low internal impedance, can deliver very high currents, indefinite shelf life if stored without electrolyte, can be left on trickle or float charge for prolonged periods, wide range of sizes and capacities available, many suppliers world wide, world's most recycled product, etc.

• Lead acid battery Limitations

Very heavy and bulky, typical columbic charge efficiency only 70% but can be as high as 85% to 90% for special designs, danger of overheating during charging, not suitable for fast charging, has a typical cycle life 300 to 500 cycles and needs to be stored in a charged state once the electrolyte has been introduced to avoid deterioration of the active chemicals.

Gassing is the production and release of bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen in the electrolyte during the charging process, particularly due to excessive charging, causing loss of electrolyte. In large battery installations this can cause an explosive atmosphere in the battery room. Sealed batteries are designed to retain and recombine these gases.

Sulphation may occur if a battery is stored for prolonged periods in a completely discharged state or very low state of charge, or if it is never fully charged, or if electrolyte has become abnormally low due to excessive water loss from overcharging and/or evaporation. Sulphation is the increase in internal resistance of the battery due to the formation of large lead sulphate crystals which are not readily reconverted back to lead, lead dioxide and sulphuric acid during re-charging. In extreme cases the large crystals may cause distortion and shorting of the plates. Sometimes sulphation can be corrected by charging very slowly (at low current) at a higher than normal voltage.

Completely discharging the battery may cause irreparable damage. Shedding or loss of material from the plates may occur due to excessive charge rates or excessive cycling. The result is chunks of lead on the bottom of the cell, and actual holes in the plates for which there is no cure. This is more likely to occur in SLI batteries whose plates are composed of a Lead "sponge", similar in appearance to a very fine foam sponge. This gives a very large surface area enabling high power handling, but if deep cycled, this sponge will quickly be consumed and fall to the bottom of the cells.

• Applications

These LABs can be used in Automotive and traction applications, standby/Back-up/Emergency power for electrical installations, submarines, UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supplies), lighting, high current drain applications, sealed battery types available for use in portable equipment.

• Cost

It is low in cost. However, flooded lead acid cells are one of the least expensive sources of battery power available. Deep cycle cells may cost up to double the price of the equivalent flooded cells.


Varieties

Lead Calcium Batteries

Lead acid batteries with electrodes modified by the addition of Calcium providing the following advantages:

* More resistant to corrosion, overcharging, gassing, water usage, and self-discharge, all of which shorten battery life.
* Larger electrolyte reserve area above the plates.
* Higher Cold Cranking Amp ratings.
* Little or No maintenance.

Lead Antimony Batteries

Lead acid batteries with electrodes modified by the addition of Antimony providing the following advantages:

* Improved mechanical strength of electrodes - important for EV and deep discharge applications
* Reduced internal heat and water loss.
* Longer service life than Calcium batteries.
* Easier to recharge when completely discharged.
* Lower cost.

Lead Antimony batteries have a higher self discharge rate of 2% to 10% per week compared with the 1% to 5% per month for Lead Calcium batteries.

• Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) Batteries

Also called Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries, is designed to prevent electrolyte loss through evaporation, spillage and gassing and this in turn prolongs the life of the battery and eases maintenance. Instead of simple vent caps on the cells to let gas escape, VRLA have pressure valves that open only under extreme conditions. Valve-regulated batteries also need an electrolyte design that reduces gassing by impeding the release to the atmosphere of the oxygen and hydrogen generated by the galvanic action of the battery during charging. This usually involves a catalyst that causes the hydrogen and oxygen to recombine into water and is called a recombinant system. Because spillage of the acid electrolyte is eliminated the batteries are also safer.

• AGM Absorbed Glass Mat Battery

Also known as Absorptive Glass Micro-Fiber is used in VRLA batteries the Boron Silicate fiberglass mat which acts as the separator between the electrodes and absorbs the free electrolyte acting like a sponge. Its purpose is to promote recombination of the hydrogen and oxygen given off during the charging process. No silica gel is necessary. The fibreglass matt absorbs and immobilizes the acid in the matt but keeps it in a liquid rather than a gel form. In this way the acid is more readily available to the plates allowing faster reactions between the acid and the plate material allowing higher charge/discharge rates as well as deep cycling.

This construction is very robust and able to withstand severe shock and vibration and the cells will not leak even if the case is cracked.

AGM batteries are also sometimes called "starved electrolyte" or "dry", because the fiberglass mat is only 95% saturated with Sulfuric acid and there is no excess liquid.

Nearly all AGM batteries are sealed valve regulated "VRLA".

AGM's have a very low self-discharge rate of from 1% to 3% per month

• Gel Cell

This is an alternative recombinant technology to also used in VRLA batteries to promote recombination of the gases produced during charging. It also reduces the possibility of spillage of the electrolyte. Prone to damage if gassing is allowed to occur, hence charging rates may be limited. They must be charged at a slower rate (C/20) to prevent excess gas from damaging the cells. They cannot be fast charged on a conventional automotive charger or they may be permanently damaged. It is used for UPS applications.


• SLI Batteries

Starting Lighting and Ignition (SLI) are the typical automotive battery application. Automotive batteries are designed to be fully charged when starting the car; after starting the vehicle, the lost charge, typically 2% to 5% of the charge, is replaced by the alternator and the battery remains fully charged. These batteries are not designed to be discharged below 50% Depth of Discharge (DOD) and discharging below these levels can damage the plates and shorten battery life.

• Deep Cycle Batteries

Marine applications, golf buggies, fork lift trucks and electric vehicles use deep cycle batteries which are designed to be completely discharged before recharging. Because charging causes excessive heat which can warp the plates, thicker and stronger or solid plate grids are used for deep cycling applications. Normal automotive batteries are not designed for repeated deep cycling and use thinner plates with a greater surface area to achieve high current carrying capacity.

Automotive batteries will generally fail after 30-150 deep cycles if deep cycled, while they may last for thousands of cycles in normal starting use (2-5% discharge).

If batteries designed for deep cycling are used for automotive applications they must be "oversized" by about 20% to compensate for their lower current carrying capacity.

A Quicker Test for Hybrid Batteries

Promising battery technologies often get bogged down in long experiments--a new test could set them loose.

It takes years to verify that a new battery technology will last for the life of a hybrid or electric car. That means battery materials that might cost less and store more energy than today's batteries are languishing on lab benches.

A new way to test lithium-ion batteries could cut that time to a few weeks instead of a few years, eliminating a key bottleneck that's keeping battery costs high and storage capacities low.

By accurately measuring how efficiently experimental batteries store and deliver an electrical charge, Jeff Dahn of Dalhousie University can predict how many times battery cells can be charged and discharged--known as the cycle life of the battery. Dahn, a professor of physics and chemistry, is also trying to demonstrate that the method can predict how long a battery will last on the shelf--known as calendar life.

Together, cycle life and calendar life determine how long a battery will be useful. They're essential for determining, for example, how big the battery pack needs to be to store the advertised amount of energy throughout the life of the car.

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The technique has caught the attention of automakers, which are trying to validate and use it, particularly as a tool for predicting cycle life. It could also allow academics, who have fewer resources than automakers, to develop battery materials with real commercial potential. "We think this technique could be very useful," says Masaki Matsui, manager of the materials research department at Toyota Research Institute of North America. He says it will identify problems with materials very early in battery development, allowing researchers to quickly sort through combinations of battery electrodes and electrolytes.

A panoply of things can go wrong in a battery. The key insight of Dahn's approach is that many such snags can show up in a single test--the measurement of the difference between the amount of charge that goes into a battery during charging and the amount that comes out when it's discharged (also called coulombic efficiency). If less charge comes out than goes in, that energy is being wasted by unwanted reactions within the battery. These losses add up: with successive cycles, the battery returns less and less charge until eventually it isn't usable.

A new chemical trick for making nanostructured materials

A new chemical trick for making nanostructured materials could help increase the range and reliability of electric cars and lead to better batteries that could help stabilize the power grid.

Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, WA, have developed the technique, which can turn a potential electrode material that cannot normally store electricity into one that stores more energy than similar battery materials already on the market.

In work published in the journal Nano Letters, the PNNL researchers show that paraffin wax and oleic acid encourages the growth of platelike nanostructures of lithium-manganese phosphate. These "nanoplates" are small and thin, allowing electrons and ions (atoms or molecules with a positive or negative charge) to move in and out of them easily. This turns the material--which ordinarily doesn't work as a battery material because of its very poor conductivity--into one that stores large amounts of electricity.

When the researchers measured the performance of the material, they discovered that it could store 10 percent more energy than the theoretical maximum energy capacity of a comparable commercial electrode material--lithium-iron phosphate, which is used in power tools and some hybrid and electric vehicles.

The approach could open the door to using a wide range of candidate battery materials that are now limited by their ability to conduct electricity and lithium ions. Research in the area has reached the point at which most of the battery materials left to be studied have bad conductivity, says Daiwon Choi, an energy materials researcher at PNNL. The new method provides a simple way to increase their conductivity. He says the method could also be compatible with conventional battery-manufacturing techniques.

Both lithium-iron phosphate and lithium-manganese phosphate are attractive at battery electrodes because they have a stable atomic structure. This crystalline structure--called olivine--is far more stable than the crystal structure of electrode materials used in laptop and cell-phone batteries. As a result, olivine materials can last much longer than the three years that cell-phone battery materials typically last. Some manufacturers claim that lithium-iron phosphate batteries could last for over 30,000 complete charge and discharge cycles without losing much of their capacity to store energy--enough for the battery to last 50 years.

Welcome to ILBF CHINA 2011 -- the 8th International Lead Battery Fair

Thanks for the support from the exhibitors & delegates from over 50+ countries, and thanks for the participants of traders, buyers & visitors concerned worldwide, the previous seven events of the ‘International Lead Battery Fair’ ---- ILBF CHINA 2009, ILBF CHINA 2007, ILBF CHINA 2005, ILBF CHINA 2004, ILBF CHINA 2002, ILBF CHINA 2000 & ILBF CHINA 1998 have been held in Beijing China & have been the great success.

Up to now, after the previous seven events in the last years, the ILBF CHINA has been the largest trade fair in the lead battery industry, and became the regular grand gathering of the manufacturers, suppliers, traders, buyers & all people concerned with business of lead batteries worldwide:

--- For all buyers & traders of lead batteries worldwide, the ILBF CHINA has been the best place to meet with all lead battery manufacturers in Asia for sourcing qualified automotive, motorcycle, motive power & sealed VRLA batteries;
--- For all lead battery manufacturers worldwide, the ILBF CHINA has been the best place to meet with all suppliers worldwide for purchasing advanced equipment, materials & components.

According to the timetable of the main events in battery industry worldwide, the organizers have planned to hold the 8th International Lead Battery Fair in the year of 2011.

Next-Gen Car Batteries Promise Longer Life, More Power

Traditional 2 volt cell above, with foam cell below.

Remember the lowly car battery? That greasy thing with corroding terminals, universally ignored until it runs out of juice?

It's being ignored no longer. With the advent of plug-in hybrids and electric cars like the Tesla Roadster and the Lightning GT, the battery is now taking center stage.

A new generation of batteries -– safer, cleaner and far more powerful -– is beginning to emerge, batteries that can meet the demanding requirements of cars propelled by electricity.

Firefly Energy, a spinoff from heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, is breathing new life into lead-acid batteries, a technology that hasn't changed much since Thomas Edison used them to power electric cars in the 1890s.

Firefly has replaced the lead plates found inside conventional batteries with a lead-impregnated foam made from carbon graphite –- one of the few materials that can withstand the highly corrosive sulfuric acid inside batteries. The foam increases the surface area of lead inside the battery, delivering more power and slashing the recharge time, says Firefly CEO Ed Williams.

Equally important, Firefly's approach eliminates the crystals that can build up inside lead-acid batteries. Over time, those crystals reduce the amount of electricity a battery can hold, one of the major reasons electric and hybrid automakers have favored lithium-ion or nickel batteries, even though lead acid is less expensive.

"Our batteries will come back to their full capacity for years," says Williams.

In addition to electric and hybrid cars, Firefly is looking at snowmobiles and lawn mowers -- anything that sits for long periods without being used. Lack of use is really hard on lead-acid batteries, and shortens their life significantly because of the formation of those crystals.

Firefly is eying other markets as well, such as data centers, which use lead-acid batteries in backup power systems, and truck manufacturers, who pack large banks of batteries into the cabs of semis to provide power for drivers when they're not on the road.

Don Hillebrand, director of the Center for Transportation Research at Argonne National Laboratory, which evaluates plug-in hybrid vehicles and batteries for the Department of Energy, said Firefly's technology is very promising, a "potentially game-changing technology."

But Hillebrand believes that the ultimate medium for electric vehicles' batteries may well be lithium ion, the same material used today in batteries for laptop computers.

"Lithium is just in the right place on the periodic table," he says. Already, lithium-ion batteries are the power storage device of choice for the sleek and sexy electric Tesla Roadster, which is packed with 6,800 of them.

But lithium-ion batteries aren't exactly trouble-free.

"In their charged state, lithium-ion batteries are intrinsically unstable," says Bart Riley, the CTO of A123Systems, a Watertown, Massachusetts, company that is using nanotech research to create a new and safer version of lithium-ion batteries.

"If they get damaged, or there's a manufacturing defect, as was the case with the Sony batteries last year, there can be a spontaneous internal short, and you've got an explosion or fire," Riley says.

A123Systems has modified the chemical structure of lithium-ion batteries, substituting iron for the cobalt used today.

The result is a battery that can be recharged far more often, and is more stable chemically, and thus safer. The combination makes the company's batteries "particularly well-suited for plug-in hybrids," Riley says.

The batteries are in use in an aftermarket module that converts cars like the Toyota Prius into plug-in hybrids, and General Motors is evaluating them for its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid.

A123Systems' batteries are already in use in a line of souped-up power tools from Black & Decker, which hold anywhere from two to three times the charge of existing handheld power tools.

Reno, Nevada-based startup Altairnano, meanwhile, is also using nanotechnology to build a new generation of lithium-ion batteries.

Made from tiny particles of titanium dioxide and other ceramic materials, the company's NanoSafe battery has up to 100 times more chargeable surface area inside than existing batteries. That means they can be recharged in minutes, and deliver three times the power of existing lithium-ion batteries, says Alan Gotcher, Altairnano's president.

The batteries are going into the ultra-sleek -– and ultra-pricey –- British electric sports car, the Lightning GT, as well as the American-made Phoenix Motorcars electric truck, which is due to start shipping later this year.

While Firefly, A123Systems and Altairnano are among the leading contenders to power the next generation of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, none of them yet has all the features they need for that market, according to Hillebrand. And there are wild cards, like the battery that isn't a battery from reclusive EEStor, a Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers-funded startup out of Cedar Park, Texas.

EEStor is using exotic materials such as barium titanate to build a ceramic supercapacitor capable of storing enough energy to power an electric car.

Richard Weir, the company's president, is tight-lipped about details, but says the device, which can be recharged in minutes, will weigh less than 100 pounds, and should begin shipping later this year.

With all these options, car makers are waiting and watching to see which technology will emerge as the leader, says Hillebrand.

The new batteries could replace the ones in cars now, but this probably won't happen for a generation or two -- maybe three to five years. Current cars don't ask much of a battery, which is partly why major battery manufacturers haven't done much new product development. High volumes of current lead-acid batteries mean manufacturing costs are much lower than new battery technologies, even if the new technology lasts two to three times longer.

"It's still a wide-open frontier," Hillebrand says. "Battery research is an exciting place to be right now."

Vehicles in Motor City

Rather than a technology breakthrough, the route to cheaper electric cars is high-volume manufacturing of lithium ion batteries, according to an electric vehicle expert.

Management consulting company PRTM on Monday released a statement arguing that people are underestimating the projected demand of electric vehicles when it comes to battery capacity.

The companies and countries that can ramp up operations for both battery pack and battery cell fabrication are the ones that will profit as electric cars become cost competitive with gasoline-powered cars in the next six to eight years, said Oliver Hazimeh, the director of PRTM's Global E-Mobility practice.

"Increasingly, this is not a localized game. There is a strategic global race going on," said Hazimeh.

China, in particular, is "completely committed to EVs" in part because projected demand for first-time car buyers will cause a spike in demand for oil, Hazimeh said.

The U.S. federal government last August announced a $2.4 billion investment in battery manufacturing, which was matched by private companies. That has led some industry watchers to wonder if there's a bubble in electric car components. But PRTM argues that plug-in vehicle volumes will ramp up significantly in 2016 in Europe and 2018 in the U.S. as costs approach gas-only cars.

"The game will be won by quickly ramping up to scale and driving the costs down," Hazimeh said. "Smaller start-ups will have a hard time if they cannot scale up quickly."

Right now, the lithium ion battery manufacturing is dominated by Asian companies, with more from China emerging. Hazimeh said that manufacturing battery cells, rather than battery pack assembly, is more strategic in the long run.

Technology improvements will play a role in bringing the cost of energy storage down, but PRTM projects that will not come into play until 2020. Between now and then, battery costs will go down by about half based on supply chain expansion, with plug-in vehicles representing about 10 percent of new cars sales, the company projects.

In the meantime, high costs for batteries mean that electric vehicles, such as the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, will be aimed mainly at early adopters, who may enjoy the acceleration of electric motors, and fleet operators, which tend to buy based on total cost of ownership rather than purchase price. Hazimeh estimates that the cost of the 24 kilowatt-hour battery in the Leaf costs between $16,000 and $18,000.

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