Lithium ion batteries have become the darling of energy storage worldwide. Lithium ion batteries have the advantages of being lightweight, powerful, and have a long cycle life, making them the main source of mobile applications such as electric vehicles, personal electronic products, mobile phones, and battery powered power tools. However, the traditional lead-acid battery market (being replaced by lithium-ion batteries) is still in a growing trend: in 2018, the global market value of lead-acid batteries was $39.7 billion, and it is expected to reach $59.7 billion by 2026, with an average annual growth rate of 5.2%.
Lead acid batteries have a history of over 160 years in many different applications and remain the most widely used rechargeable electrochemical battery in small and medium-sized storage applications. Lead acid batteries have the characteristics of safety, low cost, easy charging, and easy recycling. The battery consists of two electrodes immersed in sulfuric acid electrolyte. The positive electrode is made of metallic lead oxide, while the negative electrode is made of metallic lead.
There are two types of lead-acid batteries: rich liquid lead-acid batteries and maintenance free valve regulated lead-acid batteries (VRLA). Rich liquid lead-acid batteries have relatively low costs, but require a lot of maintenance and ventilation compared to maintenance free valve regulated batteries. AGM battery is a type of VRLA battery, and its glass fiber absorption pad contains liquid sulfuric acid electrolyte. AMG batteries can operate in any position and will not leak electrolyte even if the battery casing is punctured.
Lead acid batteries are most commonly used in the start stop system of automobiles. Low cost, the ability to generate high current in a short period of time, and the use of an onboard AC generator for charging are key factors for batteries. For other uses, these batteries present some challenges, including having relatively low charge and discharge cycles during the battery trial period, low energy density due to their heavy weight (after all, batteries are made of lead).
