A new valve-regulated lead/acid automotive battery for use in original equipment and supply to the replacement market

Abstract Valve-regulated lead/acid (VRLA) batteries have been available since the beginning of the 1970s for stationary applications. Nevertheless, the development and the commercialization of VRLA starter batteries have been very slow and mainlyrestricted to certain niche markets. This is due to the difficulty in designing products that comply with the technical specificationsrequired by the operating conditions of modern cars, and that have both a high level of reliability and a cost in accordance with the needs ofthe automotive market. The STR (sealed technology with gas recombination) battery has been developed in order to place on the automotiveoriginal equipment and replacement markets a battery with the benefits of the VRLA technology, namely: absolutely no maintenance; cleanand safe; good open-circuit storage; good cycling ability; performance comparable with that of flooded batteries (i.e., cranking powerand reserve capacity, charge acceptance, rechargeability, and life). Due to the technical choices made for the components and forthe manufacturing process, the STR battery is today manufactured on a production line very similar to that for a flooded battery, with agood level of productivity and the same reliability as the best flooded batteries. For all these reasons, the STR battery is producedat a cost that is acceptable for automotive applications.