Car makers and ALABC Join Hands to boost advanced automotive batteries

Automotive OEMs and manufacturers of lead-acid battery makers have embarked on a new collaborative work program in order to expedite the development of the next generation of energy storage systems that are advanced enough to meet the needs of micro hybrids that will be available on the market in a two-year time frame.

The European standardization committee CENELEC, Aachen University battery chair (Professor Sauer), and Ford’s European research center recently organized a technical workshop in Kloster Eberbach, Germany in which over 70 experts from the industry participated and discussed balancing the need for better charging performance with high-temperature durability in lead batteries.

As an outcome of the discussions, car manufacturers will now collaborate closely with the Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC), which is a global product driven pre-competitive research organization. ALABC works on projects aiming to improve the performance of lead batteries for both automotive and energy storage applications.

Speaking about the initiative, Dr Eckhard Karden, of Ford, Aachen said that the meeting was highly successful as it served as a platform for sharing good information was shared.  Lead-acid offers battery manufacturers a number of advantages in terms of cost, strength and maturity.

As many companies have different testing standards for the next generation of 12-volt automotive batteries, he felt that there should be greater consensus on these standards. This would speed up the development process and make it more efficient. It would also lead to faster product innovation and reduced costs.

Dr Alistair Davidson of the Advanced Lead–Acid Battery Consortium said that the ALABC was happy to work even more closely with car manufacturers to expedite the development of the technology for the micro hybrid market. He expressed his conviction that the advanced lead–acid battery consortium has a key role to play in advancing the development of technology.

He concluded, “The test standardization includes harmonizing methods for determining water loss, dynamic charge acceptance, and start-stop cycle durability — the key feature which has made micro hybrids the most successful electrified cars, accounting for more than 60 % of the European car fleet.”