Rholab Lead-Acid Battery

As many analysts have said, HEVs are in their early stages of innovation. Meanwhile, internal combustion vehicles are at the closing half of their product cycles - the major innovations have already been applied to the vehicles.

The Rholab (reliable, highly optimized lead-acid battery) is a new rechargeable battery prototype that could drastically reduce the cost of hybrid car batteries. Ni-MH batteries, the kind hybrid vehicles currently use, are very expensive. The Rholab is a lead-acid battery, which is less expensive to produce.

Whether the Rholab comes to market is anyone's guess. The point is, there is a large emerging market for durable, high capacity, high power, rechargeable batteries. With that market demand, corporations are pursuing research that could lead to product improvements, and that means better products at better prices.