Attendees of the recent technical seminar on “Lead-Acid Batteries for Start-Stop and Hybrid Electric Vehicles” were the beneficiaries of some of the most recent technical data on advanced lead-acid batteries, and made it known that more of these events are needed in the near future.  The one-day seminar, which took place June 9 prior to the 8th LABAT Conference in Varna, Bulgaria, was organized for the first time by the ALABC and the Lead-Acid Battery Department of IEES, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The event included eight presentations by some of the industry’s leading experts, including Allan Cooper of EALABC, Boris Monahov of ALABC, Francisco Trinidad of Exide Technologies (Spain), Eberhard Messner and Joern Albers of JCI Power Solutions EMEA (Germany), and Jun Furukawa of Furukawa Battery (Japan).  In his introductory speech, Professor Detchko Pavlov of IEES provided an overview of electric and hybrid electric vehicles, as well as the batteries available for them, the benefits thereof, and issues relating to them.  Other presentations focused on: the recent results of the ALABC R&D program and its HEV demonstration projects; the results of developing lead-carbon batteries for HEVs; the potential for CO2 emission reduction offered by start-stop and micro-hybrid electric vehicles and the challenges such vehicles present for the batteries; a review of the TC21X standardization activities for start-stop batteries; and much more.

The high attendance rate (110 registered participants) and the live discussion following the presentations demonstrated the need for more discussion forums of this type for the near future.  To address this need in the North American region, the ALABC is already planning a workshop entitled “Innovations in Lead Acid Batteries” or ILAB 2014, which will be held November 19-21 in Durham, NC, USA.

To learn more about the presentations from the technical seminar or how to attend the upcoming ILAB workshop in November, contact Anita Wright at [email protected].