As a recent report indicates, Exide Technologies has introduced a new division focusing on “development and pursuit of new markets for renewable energy storage and lithium-ion energy systems”.
This comes as a surprise considering that the company is a global leader in production and recycling of lead-acid batteries. Does this mean that Exide has just discovered that lead-acid and lithium-ion advanced energy storage systems are complements rather than substitutes? Or perhaps, does it imply that the company will begin a gradual retreat from the lead-acid business?
While it is too early to conclude in one or the other direction, Exide´s decision does seem to anticipate a chain of events that may come forward in the near future at the advent of the “Sixth Techno-economic Paradigm“ with lithium as its main factor as envisioned in a blog I published almost two years ago.
Lastly, as I have argued in another blog, given the growing interest in lithium-ion batteries for different applications, both within and outside the electric car industry, many new products and services are beginning to appear in a promising market. What remains to be seen is how other companies will react to the new set of factors that is starting to shape the new ”Cleantech” Era.
