To transport people and material growing transportation systems are needed. More and more of the energy for these systems is drawn from secondary batteries. The reason for this trend is economic, but there is also an environmental need for a future chance for electric traction. The actual development of electrochemical storage systems with components like sodium–sulfur, sodium–nickel chloride, nickel–metal hydride, zinc–bromine, zinc–air, and others, mainly intended for electric road vehicles, make the classical lead-acid traction batteries look old-fashioned and outdated | 5 Battery-Powered Traction The User s Point of View W. KÖNIG INTRODUCTION To transport people and material growing transportation systems are needed. More and more of the energy for these systems is drawn from secondary batteries. The reason for this trend is economic but there is also an environmental need for a future chance for electric traction. The actual development of electrochemical storage systems with components like sodium-sulfur sodium-nickel chloride nickel-metal hydride zinc-bromine zinc-air and others mainly intended for electric road vehicles make the classical lead-acid traction batteries look old-fashioned and outdated. Lead-acid this more than 150-year-old system is currently the reliable and economic power source for electric traction. The main application of the lead-acid battery is vehicles for materials handling such as forklift trucks transporters and so on inside manufacturing plants and warehouses. Passenger transportation in areas where no pollution from exhaust gases can be tolerated is a further field of application for electric vehicles powered by batteries. Special machinery for lifting cleaning and other uses as well as electric boats golf carts and wheelchairs use and need the proven lead-acid traction battery. In the following battery design and operating conditions are described with a special view on economy and reliability. Optimal purchasing conditions are not always found from a central office with the responsibility for selection of products but more information and exchange of experience are the bases for the preparation of sound decisions. Copyright 2003 by Expert Verlag. All Rights Reserved. GENERAL REMARKS Suppliers of traction batteries and electrical charge and control equipment today offer a large product scale not easily comprehensible to a normal user. Users of only a few electric vehicles for materials handling or other battery-powered systems ask trustworthy suppliers for advice. But calling a second or .
