Advanced lead battery research

Research and innovation pathways for next-generation advanced lead batteries

Advanced lead batteries

Developing the next generation of advanced lead battery technologies

More than 110 battery companies worldwide, who are members of the Consortium, are supporting research focused on delivering significant advancements in rechargeable energy storage. CBI is also partnering with universities and dedicated research organisations to develop enhanced lead batteries with improved performance and lifetimes.

Advanced lead battery research

2023 research projects

The most recent additions to our Technical Program include projects targeting optimization of lead battery performance for automotive (auxiliary/low-voltage EV) and motive power applications.

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Advanced lead battery research

2021 research projects

2021’s Technical Program focused on energy storage. With an innovative range of projects, enhancements of lead battery performance for energy storage was targeted, including cycle life, energy density and battery lifetime.

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Advanced lead battery research

2019-2020 research projects

CBI members, in collaboration with some of the world’s leading research institutes, worked on a range of innovative research projects.

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Pioneering research

2021 Technical Roadmap

Working with our members, CBI has developed a technical roadmap for advanced battery research and innovation. It is based on extensive market research, and discussions with end-users in a bid to better understand customers’ technical requirements for the future.

The requirements of customers are at the heart of the new research goals set out in the Consortium’s 2021 Technical Roadmap.

Building on the ambitious goals set in 2019, the new areas for innovation identified by CBI membership in the Technical Roadmap will be used to develop future research programs and launch projects that will deliver the performance enhancements needed for advanced lead batteries.

With continued performance improvement and technological advances, the opportunities for the global lead battery industry to provide sustainable, reliable and high-performing batteries to achieve global electrification and decarbonization targets are limitless.

Download the 2021 Technical Roadmap

Priority research goals

Energy storage

Improving cycle life, calendar life and round-trip efficiency whilst reducing acquisition and operating costs.

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Priority research goals

Automotive

Ensure recent improvements in DCA are maintained, whilst improving high-temp performance and no trade-offs in key parameters such as CCA and water loss.

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Priority research goals

Motive power

Lowering TCO by increasing cycle life, recharge time, and producing maintenance-free batteries.

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Priority research goals

UPS and Telecoms

Improving cycle and calendar life, whilst reducing battery costs.

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Research for advanced lead batteries

Request for Proposals

Each year, CBI releases a global request for research proposals focused on advanced batteries for different applications, to facilitate the latest research in the technology.

The latest CBI RFP was launched in November 2023 and can be viewed below.

2023 RFP

Argonne

Lead batteries have significant untapped potential

In a ground-breaking new project to help develop the next generation of advanced lead batteries, the Consortium for Battery Innovation is working with more than a dozen companies and the U.S Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

The collaborative research project at the world-leading Argonne Advanced Photon Source in Chicago will use the facility’s ultra-bright, high-energy X-ray beams to investigate the complex interactions taking place in lead batteries in real time.

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“This new project, with Argonne’s scientists, will help make the leap to the next generation of advanced lead batteries”

Scientific publications

The Consortium for Battery Innovation has published a series of studies in scientific journals setting out research into addition of carbon in lead batteries, the use of lead batteries in utility energy storage, and life cycle assessment studies for the lead industry. The journals are published here.