Shift Magazine - November 25, 2019 - 5

LEAVE ROOM FOR LEAD?

Old-school technology poised to play a pivotal role in the future of mobility
BY MARCUS AMICK

ost contend that the future of electric vehicles
depends heavily on the progress made with lithium ion battery technology. But some believe the
advancements made with lead-acid batteries could
also play a major role in the evolution of EVs.
Fueled by a growing demand for energy,
a number of auto suppliers such as Clarios,
formerly Johnson Controls Power Solutions,
have been exploring ways to advance leadacid battery technology. The dependability,
cost and recyclability of the batteries makes
them ideal for EVs, some advocates argue.
The old-school batteries are being used
for a number of applications in EVs, providing backup power for critical safety and

security features, including hazard lights, power steering and
antilock brakes. Lead batteries are also used to store, regulate
and ensure power at EV charging stations.
According to a report by research firm Avicenne Energy,
global demand for rechargeable batteries is expected to exceed
1 terawatt-hour by 2025, up from 730 gigawatt-hours in 2020, with lead batteries
maintaining a large share of the market.
The Consortium for Battery Innovation, a
research group that works with companies
to advance lead-based battery technology,
is looking to increase the cycle life of lead
batteries fivefold, to 5,000 cycles, by 2022,
which could help to lower the operating
costs of EVs. n

Auto supplier Clarios is looking for ways to
advance lead-acid battery technology.

BATTERY INDUSTRY'S HOME RUN
Residential energy-storage business is surging
BY MARCUS AMICK

he growth of the electric
vehicle market is driving a
surging business focused
on home energy storage.
Companies spanning Tesla to
Panasonic have been developing a
host of these home energy-storage
batteries, which when combined
with solar power can help reduce
dependence on the power grid.
According to research group
McKinsey & Co., annual installations of
home energy-storage systems in the
U.S. grew from 2.25 megawatt-hours
in 2014 to 185 mWh in 2018.
They're expected to exceed 2.9
gigawatt-hours by 2023.
In June, NeoVolta Inc., a California
maker of residential energy-storage

Companies are looking to combine
solar and battery power for homes,
using products such as Tesla's
Powerwall, top and middle, and the
Smartflower +Plus, bottom.

systems, said it was increasing its
production capability by 300 percent,
to 10,000-plus units annually.
One of the key components and
major appeals of the residential storage batteries is the flexibility of the
systems. Panasonic's new residential battery system, called EverVolt,
features both AC and DC coupled
options and can be scaled down to as
little as 5.7 kilowatt-hours of energy
storage or expanded to 34.2 kWh.
The usable capacity of the
Tesla Powerwall is 13.5 kWh. The
Smartflower +Plus, a self-contained
solar energy system developed in partnership with NEC Energy Solutions,
features 5.5 kWh of battery storage.
According
to
research
firm
BloombergNEF, South Korea currently leads the global market for
home energy-storage installations,
but China and the U.S. are poised to
move to the forefront by 2040. n
november 2019 * shift

Shift Magazine - November 25, 2019

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