What lead-acid?
 

Ford taking baby steps by getting rid of the lead-acid battery weight (up to 12 lbs) & their larger physical size. Their hybrids will have standard stop/start driving tech and will harvest regenerative braking energy. They are integrating the tech to a bigger product lineup and will have well-established battery partnerships to make it happen.

http://www.samsungsdi.com/xev/electr...le-battery.jsp


Ford and Samsung Next-Generation Battery Photo Gallery - Autoblog

I've been wondering how long it would take for manufacturers to switch from lead acid to something else. Its good to see Ford trying.

I went LiFePO4 before it was cool and in a vehicle that people said it wouldn't work in.
I saved about 100lb of weight.
If OEMs are going to stop selling cars with spare tires and jacks then they can do this.

The ford battery is still part lead acid. Lithium Ion won't work in cold (40 below) temps for starting. Don't expect lead acid to go away anytime soon.

Got my LA battery replaced under warranty this spring, guess what? The new one is showing signs of deterioration right now...
I was planning to hook up a solar panel to give the old battery some juice, now I may be forced to do that for the new one!
Or ditch the crap battery (not literally :)) and do LiFePO4...

I'd rather have nickel iron. Not very efficient, but lasts forever, is slightly lighter (than lead), and won't eat my battery trays.

I remember in the 80s when pop sci talked about manufactures going to a 36 volt electrical system.

As is you can find agm and life batteries down your battery isle at your local auto store. :thumbup:

...SAE has been mumbling about 48VDC systems for years (literally)...and Military has standardized on 24VDC since WWII.

It's better to have 2 different voltage buses IMO. 36V would burn out relay contacts and switches pretty quick. If there are no more manual transmission cars left in the near future, I will do a hybrid conversion to my beloved stick shift cars and use a step down converter to power the original electrical systems.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure this is a cost thing. Flooded lead acid batteries need to be replaced a lot, but they cost the manufacturer very little money so they still put them in cars. You have the option of switching to AGM or LiFePO3 at your own expense obviously. I still think it's funny how the Porsche 911 GT3 comes with a lead acid battery standard when they are so obsessed with weight savings, when you could drop 50? pounds with the LiFePO battery option. Some bean counters got their way and were very happy that day.

We will not see a change until the legal side of it changes, as it is cars are required by law to have a wet cell battery that can power the lights.
Every electric car and hybrid on the market has a wet cell battery that is often charged by a DC to DC converter, not because of cost, but because it's required by law.
Even Tesla has a lead acid battery, charged by a DC to DC converter, that DC to DC converter can handle all of the 12v electrical loads on it's own, but the wet cell battery is still required.