CBI’s special China meeting hears that research is driving lead batteries into the future

When this year began to move to virtual platforms for meetings, CBI’s annual China Workshop was the first event on CBI’s calendar to be impacted. This week we had the great opportunity to hold a virtual Special China Meeting, sponsored by Shandong Jinkeli Power Sources and Shangdong Huayang, with our members and partners in China and the wider Asian region, joined by more than 90 participants from across the lead battery industry. 

Attendees joined from the leading companies and associations from the lead battery industry including Tianneng, Chaowei, Leoch, Fengfan, Shuangdeng/China Shoto, Sacred Sun, Vision Group, Narada, Hammondand Camel. 

An analysis on lead battery markets, both current and future forecasts, was provided by Dr Geoffrey May, CBI’s Battery Science Consultant. All applications for lead battery technology were covered in the analysis including industrial, motive power and telecoms, and attendees heard about the strong market growth particularly in the automotive and energy storage sectors.  

Research remains the cornerstone of CBI’s work. Our technical program spans our global membership and Dr Matt Raiford, CBI’s Technical Manager delivered an update on CBI’s current research program. Special highlights included research focused on enhancing lead battery performance for energy storage and automotive applications by delivering improved cycle life and DCA (dynamic charge acceptance) performance.  The future direction of work may expand our research program to cover both motive power and industrial applications which remain a vital market for lead batteries. CBI is driving lead batteries into the future and our research is vital in achieving the performance objectives set out in our Technical Roadmap. 

 The role of the industry in communicating the benefits of lead batteries continues to be a significant undertaking and one which is seeing fantastic alignment between the global lead battery industry. CBI’s interactive map of energy storage installations remains a focal point of our communications and China is an extremely important region featured on the map with some of the largest lead battery projects worldwide. 

China’s shift towards energy storage is driving demand for all batteries with an increase of 157% recorded for electrochemical energy storage in the first three quarters of 2020 according to the China Energy Storage Alliance (CNESA). Lead batteries are a vital electrochemical technology representing a 14% share in China. There is clearly a fundamental role for lead batteries in future energy storage as a safe, cost-effective, reliable and highly recycled technology. Check out our technical case studies to see lead batteries in action.

Finishing with an in-depth panel discussion, the speakers were joined by CBI Director Dr Alistair Davidson, and global battery experts Mark Stevenson of Global Lead Technologies and Dr David Rand from CSIRO. Covering topics from lead battery recycling, smelting processes, market predictions and advancements into lead battery technologies. Extensive discussions were also held with regard to the future for lead batteries in e-bikes and as auxiliary battery for hybrid and electric vehicles.

CBI is looking forward to meeting in Suzhou next year for our annual CBI China Technical Workshop and the latest updates from CBI can be found on our WeChat channel. Members can view the presentations from the event here.