Motive Power Batteries

Lead-acid batteries have a low energy density (30 - 50 Wh/kg), making them bulky and heavy. In off-road vehicles like forklifts and excavators, they take up space, increase vehicle weight, and limit flexibility and range. Long-range operation demands frequent charging or spare batteries, raising operating costs.

Deep-discharge, common in off-road vehicles, accelerates sulfation in lead-acid batteries, leading to rapid capacity degradation. With a cycle life of only 300 - 500 times, much lower than lithium-ion batteries (over 2000 times), they need frequent replacement in high-intensity use cases like agricultural machinery and forklifts, increasing long-term costs. Additives have limited anti-sulfation effects.

Traditional flooded lead-acid batteries require regular electrolyte checks, water addition, and corrosion cleaning, with high maintenance difficulty and downtime risk in harsh off-road settings. While maintenance-free types (e.g., VRLA) reduce maintenance, their lifespan can be shortened by high temperatures and vibrations, and capacity drops below 80% of the nominal value at 0℃.

Frequent battery replacements in off-road vehicles create a large amount of waste lead-acid batteries. Improper recycling can cause environmental pollution due to lead and sulfuric acid leakage, despite a high recycling rate (>95%). Also, lead-acid batteries charge slowly (8 - 10 hours to full), cannot meet rapid energy-replenishment needs, and have high-resistance-induced voltage drops during high-current discharge. Tightening environmental regulations may boost compliance costs, driving the shift to cleaner alternatives.