On Monday, R&D Daily reported on progress by the Australian R&D organization CSIRO, which is testing a new type of valve-regulated battery (VRLA) in a Honda Insight hybrid car. What appears at first to be a fringe project, however, is a serious campaign to modernize the VRLA for use in future electric vehicles. The CSIRO project has the backing of the American-led Advanced Lead-Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC), a 48-member industry organization under the auspices of the International Lead Zinc Organization. The group has already commissioned next-gen VRLA batteries from makers in Japan, Europe, and North America and claims to have seen promising results.

By integrating an asymmetric supercapacitor, CSIRO extended charge life by four times over old VRLAs and increased power by 50% at far less projected cost than what Toyota spends on batteries for its Prius. It’s a clear challenge to companies who are banking on lithium-ion (LI) batteries, a format that does have advantages in both power capacity and charging speed. However, LI has yet to show results in the automotive realm.

While fuel debate rages on with no clear winner, a strong consensus has emerged that electric vehicles are part of the answer. Just what future hybrid systems will look like is still not clear, but we can’t count out the trusted VRLA just yet.

paul.livingstone@advantagemedia.com