Amidst the welter of publicity devoted to the newer battery chemistries, the remarkable progress made by leadracid battery technologists in response to the needs of the emerging electric-vehicle market has tended to be overlooked. The flooded design of battery, launched by Gaston Plante around 1860, has given way to a valve-regulated variant which has a history dating only from the 1970s. | ELSEVIER Journal of Power Sources 73 1998 122-126 Research results from the Advanced Lead-Acid Battery Consortium point the way to longer life and higher specific energy for lead acid electric-vehicle batteries . Moseley The International Lead Zinc Research Organization Post Office Box 12036 Research Triangle Park NC 27709-2036 USA Received 3 July 1997 accepted 10 October 1997 Abstract Amidst the welter of publicity devoted to the newer battery chemistries the remarkable progress made by lead acid battery technologists in response to the needs of the emerging electric-vehicle market has tended to be overlooked. The flooded design of battery launched by Gaston Plante around 1860 has given way to a valve-regulated variant which has a history dating only from the 1970s. The key parameters of this maintenance free battery have been improved markedly during the course of the development programme of the Advanced Lead-Acid Battery Consortium ALABC and it is likely that lead acid will continue to feature strongly in motive-power applications as a result of its cost advantage and of its enhanced effectiveness. 1998 Elsevier Science . All rights reserved. Keywords Lead acid battery Valve-regulated Electric vehicle Cycle life Specific energy Rapid recharge 1. Electric-vehicle battery essentials Electric vehicles have a history which spans the whole length of the twentieth century. At the beginning of the century electric automobiles competed successfully with vehicles powered by the immature internal combustion engine. In 1973 and again in the early 1980s international concerns over crude-oil supplies regenerated an enthusiasm for the development of a means of transport that was no longer directly dependent upon hydrocarbon fuels. Progressively since that time there has been an added motivation arising from widespread concern over increasing atmospheric pollution in urban communities. In 1996 domestic oil consumption in the USA was over 18 M barrels per day of which .
