Driving Innovation in Lead Batteries:
The Focus of the Consortium of Battery
Innovation
Matthew Raiford
Abstract Energy storage is paramount to the electrification and hybridization of
society, and aggressive adoption of batteries into many different environments has
created significant challenges for the grid and for batteries. Lead battery energy storage provides a unique solution to these issues, offering a high performing technology
with near-complete sustainability, intrinsically safe, cost-effective, and reliable. The
Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) focuses on increasing the effectiveness
of lead batteries in current and new applications. CBI has developed an innovation roadmap aimed at driving performance enhancement in automotive, industrial,
and renewable energy storage lead battery applications. A new technical program
has started featuring projects around the world aimed at improving some aspects of
lead battery performance. The program covers a broad array of research areas, from
crystallization/dissolution of lead species in battery electrodes to controlled energy
throughput analysis of a lead battery energy storage system (ESS). Main drivers in the
program, covered in the roadmap, are centered on increasing capacity turnovers of
lead batteries in all applications and also creating lead batteries that charge quickly at
various states of charge (DCA). This paper will focus on the performance enhancements observed in commercially advanced lead batteries and how innovation has
opened up new pathways for improvement.
Keywords Lead batteries · Energy storage · Performance enhancements
Introduction
Balancing modernization of the grid with decarbonization goals and an increasing
population requires clear stewardship plans and an increased reliance on the sustainability of natural resources and energy production. Regions across the world,
from Germany to California, from Indonesia to Chile, are forecasting the need for
cheaper and more stable energy production and transfer. Energy storage can be used
M. Raiford (B)
Consortium for Battery Innovation, 2530 Meridian Parkway, Suite 115, Durham, NC 27713, USA
e-mail: matt.raiford@batteryinnovation.org
© The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2020
A. Siegmund et al. (eds.), PbZn 2020: 9th International Symposium
on Lead and Zinc Processing, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37070-1_62
721
The Focus of the Consortium of Battery
Innovation
Matthew Raiford
Abstract Energy storage is paramount to the electrification and hybridization of
society, and aggressive adoption of batteries into many different environments has
created significant challenges for the grid and for batteries. Lead battery energy storage provides a unique solution to these issues, offering a high performing technology
with near-complete sustainability, intrinsically safe, cost-effective, and reliable. The
Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) focuses on increasing the effectiveness
of lead batteries in current and new applications. CBI has developed an innovation roadmap aimed at driving performance enhancement in automotive, industrial,
and renewable energy storage lead battery applications. A new technical program
has started featuring projects around the world aimed at improving some aspects of
lead battery performance. The program covers a broad array of research areas, from
crystallization/dissolution of lead species in battery electrodes to controlled energy
throughput analysis of a lead battery energy storage system (ESS). Main drivers in the
program, covered in the roadmap, are centered on increasing capacity turnovers of
lead batteries in all applications and also creating lead batteries that charge quickly at
various states of charge (DCA). This paper will focus on the performance enhancements observed in commercially advanced lead batteries and how innovation has
opened up new pathways for improvement.
Keywords Lead batteries · Energy storage · Performance enhancements
Introduction
Balancing modernization of the grid with decarbonization goals and an increasing
population requires clear stewardship plans and an increased reliance on the sustainability of natural resources and energy production. Regions across the world,
from Germany to California, from Indonesia to Chile, are forecasting the need for
cheaper and more stable energy production and transfer. Energy storage can be used
M. Raiford (B)
Consortium for Battery Innovation, 2530 Meridian Parkway, Suite 115, Durham, NC 27713, USA
e-mail: matt.raiford@batteryinnovation.org
© The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2020
A. Siegmund et al. (eds.), PbZn 2020: 9th International Symposium
on Lead and Zinc Processing, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37070-1_62
721