The strongest sector was base metals, with lead imports in August rising 51 percent year over year, supported by very strong demand from lead acid and battery makers.

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On that crucial dimension, if lithium-ion batteries are a 3, the next best technology, NiMH is a 2, and a lead acid battery, like the one you use in your car, gets a 1.

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The venerable and ridiculously cheap lead-acid battery that starts your car every time with stunning reliability should tell you something.

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This would eliminate what has historically been the only performance advantage of lead acid in starter battery applications, and is expected to considerably increase the value proposition of A123's Engine Start battery as a lighter-weight, longer-lasting alternative to absorbent glass mat (AGM) and other lead acid batteries.

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The microgrid comprises eight 100-kW grid-tied inverters, the rooftop PV array, the lead-acid battery pack, backup diesel generators, and a Web-based monitoring and control system.

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This week ARPA-E announced it is funding General Atomics to build a flow battery using well-known, and cheap, lead acid chemistry.

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The first reason was that the lead-acid battery packs used in the EV-1 weighed 1600 lb. and were both too heavy and not powerful enough for widespread use.

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