In the period since the 12th European Lead Battery Conference in Istanbul, fuel prices have continued to escalate despite the economic problems experienced around the world. Coupled with this, scientific and political pressures continue to increase for significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from transport and power generation, resulting in ever-increasing interest in more fuel-efficient vehicles and the supply of electricity from renewable sources.
In fact governments around the world have used significant investment in these areas as a means of reversing the recession arising from the recent global financial problems. Much of this investment has gone towards funding the production of lithium batteries for use in electric vehicles, but despite government incentives to increase market uptake, doubts remain about long-term customer acceptance of these vehicles. The principal reasons for this are battery cost and range anxiety.
Recently most European car producers have introduced stop/start technology based on lead-acid batteries, right across their vehicle ranges to reduce CO2 emissions and there is now growing interest in increasing the functionality of these systems to produce further reductions at low cost. This will put increasing demand on the battery and may result in an increase in battery voltage from 12 to 48 volts at least for these systems. The design and development of advanced valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) batteries for these applications and for the expanding telecommunications and motive power markets is providing a challenging research focus for the industry. 13ELBC will bring together key technical, manufacturing, marketing and R&D personnel to discuss and examine the strategic, technical and commercial issues of greatest importance to the industry today.
In addition, 13ELBC will feature presentations by experts on current market issues and on recent research work in areas such as new battery and separator designs, the role of carbon in the negative plate of advanced VRLA batteries and their demonstration in these new vehicles, as well as the latest advances in manufacturing techniques and equipment. Users of batteries will find 13ELBC a prime information resource on the performance of current and future lead-acid batteries.
Conference Programme
13ELBC will start with a reception on the evening of Tuesday 25 September, with the first Conference session commencing at 09.00 the next day. The Conference will end at about 14.30 on Friday 28 September. On-site registration will begin at 11.00 on Tuesday 25 September.
Details of the 13ELBC Technical Programme are given in this brochure. The working language will be English. Due to the large number of high-quality papers to be presented there will be two periods during which parallel sessions will be held.
After the event, each delegate will be sent a CD of all papers presented at 13ELBC. The edited texts of selected technical and research papers given at 13ELBC and accepted by the Journal of Power Sources will also be published in an edition of the Journal.
During 13ELBC, there will be an exhibition for suppliers to the industry of equipment, technology, materials, components and services. About 90 exhibitors are expected to participate. For information about the exhibition and to reserve space, please contact Allan Cooper at the Conference Secretariat.
Also during the Conference, the lead industry will present its prestigious award in recognition of achievements and contributions made by the recipient to the lead and battery industries.
