National Battery Day 2020

Celebrating The Benefits Of Lead-Acid Batteries

For industries and individuals who depend on battery power for their machinery and energy needs, lead batteries play an essential part of their work and livelihood. Celebrating National Battery Day 2020 allows these industries, as well as battery manufacturers such as U.S. Battery, to recognize the benefits lead-acid batteries have provided to various industries for more than 150 years.

Cost-Efficient Power

One of the major benefits of flooded lead-acid (FLA) batteries is that they have the lowest cost per watt-hour than any other form of battery type. This is the reason why they are the preferred type of battery in industries that have moved into incorporating more electric vehicles and machinery such as golf carts, aerial and scissor lifts, RVs, floor cleaning machines, marine applications, and well as for renewable energy storage.  With regular maintenance, FLA batteries keep equipment and vehicles running for many years with a low cost of operation, while also remaining as the safest and most reliable sources of energy, according to industry experts and studies performed by the Battery Council International.

Economic Impact

The lead battery industry in the United States also provides a large economic impact by employing nearly 25,000 workers, according to a study by the Battery Council International. This equates to a $26.3 billion in economic impact that also affects suppliers, worker spending, transportation, and distribution that combined, totals 92,000 jobs equating to an estimated 1.7 billion annually in payroll.

Environmental Sustainability

One of the least known advantages of FLA batteries is that they are one of the best examples of a sustainable and cost-effective recycling effort in which nearly 100 percent of these batteries are recycled. All the materials in a lead battery are recycled into new lead batteries, which dramatically reduces their impact on the environment for the battery industry, as well as for industries that have embraced the use of battery-powered vehicles to reduce those that are powered by combustion engines.

In addition, many automobiles utilize start-stop technology, a system that shuts off engines while idle at a stoplight to conserve fuel. This technology, according to the Consortium for Battery Innovation, claims it eliminates 4.5 million tons of gas emissions annually in the U.S. alone.

While new technologies such as Lithium continue to increase in popularity and will foreseeably grow in use, battery manufacturers are finding methods to make them as cost-efficient as FLA batteries, and are also working on ways to effectively recycle them in the same way FLA batteries have been successful industry-wide.