High-power starter batteries

A major driver for advanced batteries is from the ever-increasing electrical demands of the automobile. Some of the new high-power accessories under consideration include integrated starter-generators, emissions devices, steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire, electrified climate control, a.c. power taps, fast-clearing windshields, and convenience appliances such as refrigerators, microwave ovens, and vacuum cleaners. These are pulse loads from between 1 and 10 kW (and possibly higher) and will rely on the battery to provide occasional support. 

Some of the vital and essential loads are required when the plant is to be started up, and there is no normal power available. In this situation the starting up of the plant is called black starting . The emergency generator must be started from a source of power, which is usually a high capacity storage battery and a DC starter motor, or a fully charged air receiver and a pnemnatic starter motor. 

The lead storage battery was invented in 1859, but when it was used to power automobile self-starters in the early twentieth century, it revolutionized the personal transportation industry This battery has remained fundamentally the same for nearly a century because it has a long lifetime (3-5 years), can operate in high and low temperatures (+100°F to —30 F), and holds up well under the beating meted out by road vibrations. 

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