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 a previous instablog, 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.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks.