The Global Lead Battery Innovation Conference and Expo (ELBC), co-organised for the first time by CBI, took place in Lyon, France (6-9 Sept).
As a warm-up to the main conference, CBI brought together lead battery industry experts from all over the world, to take part in:
On day one of ELBC, CBI’s Director (Dr Alistair Davison) set out a positive assessment of the opportunities for advanced lead batteries highlighting CBI’s roadmap, which charts a path to a new generation of batteries in a session dedicated to Markets and Trends.
And CBI technical experts, including Begüm Bozkaya, Technical Manager, outlined the CBI technical program with an insightful presentation focusing on improving energy storage systems and automotive batteries as key innovations in the industry.
To promote CBI’s Technical Roadmap and its work in driving innovation across the industry Dr Matthew Raiford, CBI’s Senior Technical Manager updated delegates. And in a major announcement, Dr Carl Telford impressed ELBC attendees with news of a 10 million Euro funding award for an innovative lead-battery powered microgrid project in Africa, brokered by CBI.
In his presentation entitled « Opportunities for Lead Batteries in Energy Storage Systems », Dr Telford spoke about the use of lead batteries for sustainable energy projects and presented for the first time this novel project funded by the European Commission that gathers lead batteries, renewables, and hydrogen.
As always at ELBC there were many networking opportunities, with delegates able to meet face to face for the first time in four years. The well-attended gala dinner took place at La Sucrière, and WGBI’s (Women in the Global Battery Industry) held its first meeting in Europe. This important initiative aims to bring more women to our industry and empower them through networking sessions, workshops, and mentoring opportunities.
CBI is very much looking forward to seeing all these fantastic attendees and delegates again at ELBC 2024 in Milan, Italy.
Watch the Event video:
A ground-breaking new battery ‘match’ service is set to help utility companies choose the most suitable batteries as partners for their energy storage schemes.
CBI Battery Match has been designed and built by the Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) – the global advanced lead battery research group – to help electricity providers and other energy storage projects find a battery system that best meets their requirements.
The online service, launched in conjunction with the Energy Storage Association’s Virtual Conference (ESACon20), is targeted at systems specifiers and integrators for utility and renewable energy companies and presents them with a series of potential battery partners, before linking them directly with battery manufacturers.
Just like human dating apps, users tap in information about themselves together with details of their expectations and requirements. Using an intelligent algorithm based on battery industry expertise, a range of battery solutions best suited to their needs are identified in real-time.
Dr Alistair Davidson, Director of CBI said: “We’re aiming to bridge the gap between utilities and renewable energy providers and battery manufacturers by demonstrating the wide range of reliable, high-performance advanced lead batteries available.
“Our research Consortium of battery manufacturers has found that their customers needed a simpler way to sort through the range of choices to identify the best battery for their energy storage system.
“Our battery matchmaker will help demonstrate that there are a range of options available, where advanced lead batteries are best-suited to their needs, that allows them to find a tailor-made solution for their specific system.”
“We’re seeing massive growth in demand for battery energy storage across the globe which means we need many more batteries. This new tool helps users consider the range of potential solutions and puts them in touch with potential partners in the shape of the manufacturers.”
With the energy storage market expected to grow at nearly 25% in the next five years, batteries will be one of the key energy storage technologies.
“All battery chemistries will have a part to play achieving future clean energy targets.” added Dr Davidson. “One of the advantages of using advanced lead batteries is that they combine reliability, high technical performance and cost-effectiveness with a recycling rate of almost 100% in North America and Europe.”
The technology is already widely used by utility and renewable energy companies for projects ranging from large-scale peak-shaving and frequency regulation projects to microgrids and off-grid systems.
The battery match service is a collaborative effort between the lead battery industry and CBI, which brings together robust, technical information from some of the leading global players in one place. Companies including Advanced Battery Concepts, C&D Technologies, East Penn Manufacturing, Electric Applications Incorporated, EnerSys, Exide Technologies, Gridtential, NorthStar Battery and Trojan Battery Company are engaged in the project.
With a user-friendly interface available on desktop and mobile, energy storage end-users can log on to the tool, input their system requirements, and the outcome is a direct match with the battery best suited for their project. CBI Battery Match will enable direct communication between the energy storage company and the battery manufacturer, a streamlined process where inputted information results in the output of a battery.
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Notes to editors:
About the Consortium for Battery Innovation:
The Consortium for Battery Innovation is developing short, informative videos covering all topics related to lead batteries across all the applications they’re used in, from automotive and motive power to energy storage.
From definitions about the range of lead battery technologies available on the market to explanations covering key terms such as Dynamic Charge Acceptance and cycle life, CBI's Battery 101 Series features our battery experts.
Keep an eye below for the latest videos in the series.
The organisers of the DCA & Heat workshop have been reviewing the situation with respect to the COVID-19 virus (Coronavirus). This situation has developed significantly over the past weeks and, given this, we have taken the decision to postpone the DCA & Heat meeting until 7-8 October 2020. The CBI technical workshop will be postponed until 8-9 October 2020.
The schedule for meetings will remain the same and the location will remain the Royal Scots Club, Edinburgh, UK. We will post an update when registration re-opens for the meetings.
The DCA & Heat Workshop (7-8 October) and CBI Workshop (8-9 October) to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. The Consortium for Battery Innovation with CENELEC are holding a DCA & Heat Workshop bringing together technical global experts from the advanced lead battery and automotive industries. This follows meetings held Bruges in 2019, Alcalá de Henares in 2018 and Kloster Eberbach in 2017.
The advanced lead 12V battery workshop will be followed on 8 October (starting at 3.30pm) and 9 October (9am-3pm) by a Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) European Technical Workshop, to discuss the launch of new projects to be funded under the 2020 CBI technical program.
Agenda - DCA and Heat Workshop
Following the successful events in Bruges, Alcalá and Kloster Eberbach, CBI and CENELEC will be holding a workshop ‘Maximizing hot-climate durability and brake energy recuperation: an automotive workshop on battery technology and standards’ on 7-8 October in Edinburgh, Scotland. View the agenda here.
Agenda - CBI European Technical Workshop
The EFB & Heat workshop will be followed on 8 October (starting at 3.30pm) and 9 October (9am-3pm) by a Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) European Technical Workshop, to discuss the launch of new projects to be funded under the 2020 CBI technical program. An agenda will be available in due course.
Registration for both workshops will open in due course.
50% discount is available to students - please contact Anita Wright (Anita.wright@batteryinnovation.org) to obtain the student discount rate.
Hotel
Hotel reservations will open closer to the event.
This will be held on 5-6 November Nashville, Tennessee, USA, starting at 12:30pm with lunch on the 5th November and finishing at 4:00pm on the 6th November. A draft agenda can be found here. Registration for the event can be made here. Further information can be found below.
Prior to the workshop, a bipolar workshop sponsored by Advanced Battery Concepts and East Penn will be held from 9am-12pm. Further information on this workshop can be found below.
The Consortium for Battery Innovation is holding a North American Technical Workshop in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, on 5-6 November 2019. The meeting will begin on Tuesday 5th November from 1.30 pm-5:30pm, and on Wednesday 6th November from 9am-4:00pm. A draft agenda for the workshop can be found here.
A Bipolar Lead Battery Technical Session will be held from 9am-12pm on the 5th November. This session will focus on the history, development, current technology and, most importantly, the future potential bipolar lead batteries at commercial scale. Individual companies will present their current state-of-the-art and planned advances in bipolar battery technology. Audience questions will be addressed in a roundtable discussion with technical experts. A draft agenda can be found here.
Registration is now open. The fee for the CBI North American Technical Workshop is $375 (USD) per person. The fee will cover attendance at the workshop, lunches on 5th and 6th November and a dinner on the evening of 5th November. The workshop is free for students. Students registering need to contact Anita Wright for the discount code before completing their registration. Registration for the event can be made here.
The workshop will be held at the Hotel Indigo Nashville Downtown, 301 Union Street, Nashville, TN 37201 USA. Click here to register online at the hotel for our group. Hotel cancellations must be made directly with the hotel.
A dinner will be held at 7:00pm on 5th November 2019. The cost of this dinner is covered in the registration fee for the Technical Workshop. Registrants are required to confirm attendance for this dinner by selecting yes or no in order to continue your online Technical Workshop registration.
All workshop cancellations must be received in writing by Wednesday 30th October 2019. Registration fees may be refunded, minus a $25.00 processing fee, IF cancellations are made by this date. Please email workshop cancellations to (wright@ila-lead.org) or fax (919-361-1957). After this date, fees will be non-refundable. Substitutions are permitted.
Should you experience any difficulty with the online registration process, please contact Anita Wright at wright@ila-lead.org.
In 2019, car companies met with battery manufacturers in Bruges, Belgium to explore breakthrough technology using advanced lead batteries.
Organised by the Consortium, the EFB & heat workshop was part of a CBI technical workshop.
The innovative event drew battery experts from across the globe to discuss the latest developments in lead battery technology to propel the next generation of advanced lead batteries for automotive applications.
Watch our short video which features global lead battery experts and researchers explore how CBI, in collaboration with the world’s leading research institutes and battery manufacturers, are pushing the boundaries of lead battery technology to ensure their continued dominance in the automotive market.
CBI invited member company RSR Technologies, a unit of ECOBAT Technologies, to share their research focus relating to lead batteries and energy storage
By: Travis Hesterberg (RSR Technologies), Tim Ellis (RSR Technologies and Chairman of CBI) and Matt Raiford (formerly RSR, now CBI)
Lead batteries offer a unique cross section of performance, cost, and sustainability. These advantages are accessed because of the very materials that make up lead batteries, mainly lead, plastic and electrolyte. However, performance enhancement in lead batteries must keep pace with the added requirements demanded by an increasingly energy storage dependent world. RSR Technologies’ view of this issue is the best way to change how lead batteries perform is to start from the very beginning: lead.
Alloy developments have been the hallmark of RSR Technologies, and research is centered on producing alloys for the needs of today and tomorrow. Current research efforts use highly resolved materials characterization techniques, such as the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, to monitor the fundamental growth and dissolution processes that occur in lead batteries and understand how our alloy developments can change these processes for the better.
The role of common elements found in lead alloys on the growth and crystal habit of the many species (PbSO4 and PbO2 for instance) in lead batteries is not understood. Each element has an effect and we are studying how each can benefit or limit the dynamic charge acceptance and cycle life of lead active material. For instance, electron microscopy has shown that the PbSO4 crystal behavior can change drastically based on the elements present in the active material or electrolyte.
The slow dissolution behavior of PbSO4 is of key importance due to its negative effect on charge acceptance and cycle life. The focus on PbSO4 crystal behavior has been fruitful, yielding a new alloy for higher performing lead battery active material, SUPERSOFT-HCYCYLE®. Trace elements in this alloy help govern the crystallization of PbSO4 in the positive and negative electrode. Smaller PbSO4 crystallites with a more easily dissolved crystal habit are formed using SUPERSOFT-HCYCYLE®. The faster dissolution in turn facilitates high charge acceptance and cycle life.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. As we push forward, others are as well. Benefits from SUPERSOFT-HYCYCLE® can be interwoven with the performance enhancements offered by additives, carbon containing and carbon-based electrodes, and bi-polar batteries. All these enhancements working together completely reform the lead battery, advancing the technology to the requirements of the future.
Engineers from European car companies met in Bruges, Belgium, to explore advances in lead battery technology specific for future low emission vehicles.
The workshop, organized by the Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) in co-ordination with CENELEC, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization, brought together nearly 100 global technical experts from across the advanced lead battery and automotive industries on 22 and 23 May.
Advanced lead batteries already enable start-stop technology which has helped cut emissions from cars in Europe and the US by up to 10%.
Now, engineers hope to reduce heat and water loss and improve battery performance further as they prepare the next generation of low emission vehicles.
Delegates from around the globe arrived in Bruges to attend the EFB & Heat technical workshop, exploring high-temperature durability tests for advanced lead 12 V batteries.
The benefits of carbon additives have been widely studied and been shown to improve dynamic charge acceptance (DCA) of lead batteries. However, current test standards indicate that the increased use of carbon for micro and mild-hybrids may result in high-temperature durability issues.
Lead batteries are the dominant automotive battery technology, with virtually every vehicle on the road today containing a lead battery. Automotive market dominance has been maintained through recent performance improvements that have been spurred by research and innovation by the lead battery industry, which has included studies into a range of additives such as carbon.
Encouragingly, recent research conducted by CBI members under real-world conditions has indicated that the side effects of carbon additives may be significantly overestimated and may be a result of the ways in which batteries are tested.
Significant new opportunities in micro and mild-hybrid vehicles are available for lead battery technology if these issues can be addressed and overcome through continued research, innovation and collaboration within the industry.
Following successful meetings in Eberbach and Alcalá, the workshop in Bruges facilitated the interaction between OEM engineers and lead battery scientists from around the world to work and plan collaborative projects and experiments focused on exploring high-temperature durability improvements and water loss mechanisms in lead batteries.
A series of plenary talks outlined current and possible methods used to continue improvement in advanced lead battery technology. Water loss mechanisms, new gas monitoring instrument development, research methods for new additives, and new tests developed to study these issues were just some of the topics covered in the intensive 2-day technical workshop.
The lead battery industry, through collaborative CBI technical workshops such as the EFB & Heat workshop, is continuously researching and striving to improve and innovate in lead battery technology to meet the future demands of automotive applications. The workshop in Bruges is the latest partnership between CBI, CENELEC and the European car industry to support lead battery innovation.
The work of CBI and its members does not end in Bruges. Working groups have been established in collaboration with important industry organizations to focus on unique issues that will be developed over the coming year. The lead battery industry will continue to research and innovate to propel automotive lead battery technology into the future.
Two CBI members, Narada and Microporous, have been acknowledged as ‘honorable mentions’ by the judging committee at the U.S. annual Battery Council innovation awards.
Narada has partnered energy storage operator Upside Group in an innovative frequency regulation project, which represents the first large-scale application of lead-carbon batteries in grid-level frequency regulation energy storage systems.
The project was for the German power grid (see the CBI case study here) and the installation, at Langenreichenbach, has a planned construction capacity of 75MW. The installed capacity of the first phase of the project is 16.4MW, and the peak energy storage capacity can reach 25MWh. This project consists of 18 containers, and the battery consists of 10,584 units of 1200Ah lead-carbon valve regulated cells. It is powered by nine inverters, each of which can provide 1.8 MVA.
Narada was one of the pioneers in terms of developing lead-carbon battery systems in energy storage. The company says this project is the first investment and operation model project in the overseas market.
Narada chose Germany as a test location because its utilization of renewable energy is one of the most advanced in the world. Its power grid frequency regulation market is thus a mature power market auxiliary service trading market.
Narada’s project development team was responsible for the finance and development of the entire project. Narada will work with Upside to finish building the project, with a total investment of around €42 million ($47 million).
Meanwhile, the awards committee said that separator product developer Microporous’ innovation — a product known as the DCA Booster Mat — provides greater dynamic charge acceptance without needing any change for the negative active material in the battery.
The Booster Mat can be bundled with the firm’s SLI or industrial separators and is suitable for enhanced flooded batteries — meaning that it allows charge acceptance optimization in high rate partial state of charge requirements (such as in start-stop applications).
Microporous hopes to have completed prototype testing in the next 12 months. It will then develop partnerships with battery companies to evaluate and market the product.
Divya Tiwari, Technical Manager at Microporous, said the innovation offers excellent charge acceptance in industrial markets such as motive power, where opportunity charging is required.
Lead battery-powered energy storage highlighted by research consortium’s online map
A digital map detailing more than 120 lead battery-powered energy storage projects has been unveiled by the Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI).
The map, published online ahead of the Energy Storage Association’s annual conference held in Phoenix, Arizona, includes diverse case studies demonstrating successful lead battery energy storage installations from the United States, to Asia and Europe.
The feature is included on the Consortium for Battery Innovation’s website.
Through a range of case studies, the map details how lead battery storage is supporting utility and renewable energy systems. This includes providing back-up for local power grids and supplying off-grid electricity to power remote communities.
CBI Director Dr Alistair Davidson said: “We are seeing growing interest in lead battery energy storage for utility and renewables systems all over the world. The aim of this initiative is to highlight some of these installations and encourage companies to share other examples we can highlight demonstrating the variety of projects currently in place.”
“Our analysis suggests demand for battery energy storage will increase significantly in the next five years. This new tool will allow us to demonstrate that the latest lead battery technology is supporting a wide range of installations with reliable, safe, sustainable and cost-effective energy storage.
“A focus of CBI is to conduct pre-competitive research to support development of the next generation of lead batteries which will significantly extend both battery life and performance, to support diverse energy systems and electrification.”
ENDS
Note to editors:
Consortium website:
The Consortium for Battery Innovation with CENELEC are holding a workshop bringing together technical global experts from the advanced lead battery and automotive industries. This follows meetings held Kloster Eberbach in 2017 and Alcalá de Henares in 2018.
The advanced lead 12V battery workshop will be followed on 23 May (3.30pm-6pm) and 24 May (9am-3pm) by a Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) European Technical Workshop, to discuss the launch of new projects to be funded under the 2019 CBI technical program.
Agenda - EFB and Heat Workshop
The “EFB and Heat” Workshop will trigger discussion and establish co-operation between battery experts working in all parts of the value-added chain. Download the agenda here.
Agenda - CBI European Technical Workshop
The CBI European Technical Workshop agenda can be downloaded here.
Both the EFB & Heat workshop and CBI Technical Workshop will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the ancient city centre of Bruges, Belgium.
We have negotiated a hotel rate of Euro 137 per night and you can make your hotel booking using this link. The latest date for making a room reservation is 1 April 2019. We recommend early bookings as Bruges is particularly busy over the conference dates.
Registration for both workshops can be made here.
50% discount is available to students attending the meetings. Please contact Anita Wright to obtain the student discount code.
Further information and a draft agenda for EFB and Heat can be found here. For assistance with workshop registration, please contact Anita Wright. For assistance with hotel details, please contact Maura McDermott.
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Battery Match
