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In the field of industrial logistics, forklift as the main force of material handling, its power core - traction lead-acid battery development prospects have attracted much attention. At present, logistics, warehousing and other industries are booming, and the demand for forklifts continues to rise, which has brought broad development space for the traction lead-acid battery market. At the same time, the continuous innovation of technology has also injected new vitality into it, so that it still shows a strong development potential in the face of many challenges.

1. Market demand drives scale expansion

(1) The logistics and warehousing industry is developing vigorously

With the rapid rise of the e-commerce industry and the deepening of global trade, the logistics and warehousing industry has ushered in unprecedented development opportunities. The scale of warehouses and logistics centers continues to expand, and the cargo throughput increases sharply, which makes the frequency and number of forklifts greatly increased. Forklift traction lead-acid battery with its low cost, mature technology, high power output and other characteristics, become an important choice of forklift power. Taking domestic large logistics parks as an example, in order to meet the demand for rapid turnover of goods, the number of new forklifts increases at a rate of 15%-20% per year, most of which are equipped with lead-acid batteries. According to statistics, China's traction lead-acid battery market is expected to reach billions of yuan in 2023, and the year-on-year growth rate remains stable. In the future, with the continuous expansion of the logistics and warehousing industry, the demand for forklifts will grow simultaneously, which will promote the continuous expansion of the traction lead-acid battery market.

(2) Demand for transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry

The manufacturing industry is transforming and upgrading in the direction of intelligence and efficiency, and the efficiency and precision of material handling has become a key link. Forklifts undertake important tasks such as raw material handling, semi-finished product transfer and finished product loading and unloading in manufacturing plants. With its stable performance and low operating costs, lead-acid battery forklift meets the pursuit of cost-effective equipment by manufacturing enterprises. In the electronics manufacturing, automobile manufacturing and other industries, the stability and cleanliness of forklift trucks are required to be higher, and the advantages of lead-acid battery forklift trucks without exhaust emissions are highlighted. With the continuous development of the manufacturing industry, the demand for forklift traction lead-acid batteries will also rise steadily, providing strong support for its market growth.

2.Technological innovation breakthrough performance bottleneck

(1) Research on energy density improvement

For a long time, the low energy density has been a short board for forklifts to pull lead-acid batteries, limiting the mileage of forklifts. Now, researchers are working to increase its energy density through material innovation. In terms of plate materials, new materials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene are tried to be added. Carbon nanotubes have excellent electrical conductivity and high specific surface area, which can significantly improve the electron transport efficiency and make the battery charging and discharging process more efficient. The unique two-dimensional structure of graphene gives it ultra-high electron mobility, and the composite of graphene and lead-acid battery plate materials can effectively improve the electrochemical performance of the plate. Studies have shown that adding the right amount of graphene lead-acid batteries is expected to increase the energy density by 10%-15%, which will significantly increase the driving range of forklifts to meet the needs of longer and wider operations.

(2) Fast charge technology research and development progress

Traditional lead-acid batteries take a long time to charge, which seriously affects the efficiency of forklift trucks. In order to solve this problem, fast charging technology has become the focus of research and development. On the one hand, by improving the internal structure of the battery, such as the use of thin plates and high porosity partitions, the internal resistance is reduced, so that the battery can withstand greater charging current. On the other hand, special fast charging devices and intelligent charging algorithms are developed. The intelligent fast charging device can dynamically adjust the charging voltage and current according to the real-time state of the battery to achieve multi-stage accurate charging such as constant current - constant voltage - trickle. At present, some advanced forklift traction lead-acid batteries have been able to achieve 1-2 hours to charge more than 80% of the electricity, greatly shortening the charging waiting time, improving the daily working time of the forklift and the overall operating efficiency.

(3) The exploration of extending battery life

The limited cycle life of lead-acid batteries increases the cost of use. From the material and manufacturing process, it is expected to extend its life. In terms of material, the composition of plate alloy is improved, and the traditional lead-antimony alloy is replaced by lead-calcium alloy. The lead-calcium alloy has a lower gas extraction rate, which can effectively reduce the phenomenon of water loss in the charging and discharging process of the battery, and reduce the corrosion rate of the plate. In the manufacturing process, the introduction of automated, high-precision production equipment to improve the uniformity and consistency of plate paste, reduce the local overheating caused by process deviation, active material falling off and other problems. After the improvement, the use of lead calcium alloy plate forklift traction lead-acid battery, cycle life can be increased to 600-800 times, reducing the long-term use cost of enterprises.

 3, environmental pressure to promote green transformation

(1) The adoption of cleaner production processes

Environmental pollution in the production of lead-acid batteries has been widely concerned. In response to this challenge, enterprises are actively adopting cleaner production processes. In the lead smelting link, optimize the process, improve the utilization rate of lead, reduce the production of waste gas, waste water and waste residue. For example, the use of advanced closed melting technology to reduce lead smoke emissions; Through the wastewater treatment system, the recycling of water resources and the recovery of heavy metals are realized. In the battery assembly process, automated equipment is used to reduce the risk of lead contamination caused by manual operation. At the same time, environmentally friendly raw materials and auxiliary materials are used to reduce pollution from the source and promote the transformation of the lead-acid battery industry to green production.

(2) The development of efficient recycling technology

Recycling of waste lead-acid batteries is very important. At present, advanced recycling technologies continue to emerge, such as wet recycling technology. The technology uses chemical solution to dissolve the lead in the waste battery, and through a series of chemical reactions to purify the lead recovery, the recovery rate can reach more than 98%, and the energy consumption is reduced by about 30% compared with the traditional fire recovery. In the recycling process, the generated waste gas and waste water can be discharged after strict treatment, greatly reducing the pollution to the environment. Some large battery recycling enterprises have established a perfect recycling network to collect used batteries from the source, ensure that resources are effectively recycled, reduce the negative impact of lead-acid batteries on the environment, and achieve sustainable development of the industry.

4.Intelligent development to improve the application experience

(1) Application of intelligent monitoring and management system

Traditional forklift traction lead-acid battery lack of real-time status monitoring, it is difficult for users to grasp the health of the battery and the remaining power. Today, intelligent battery management systems (BMS) are widely used. Various sensors are integrated into the battery to monitor battery voltage, current, temperature, SOC (state of charge) and other parameters in real time, and upload the data to the intelligent management platform through the wireless transmission module. With the help of big data analysis and artificial intelligence algorithms, the platform can accurately predict the remaining battery power and health status, and warn potential failures in advance, such as plate vulcanization and increased internal resistance. Forklift operators can intuitively view the battery information through the mobile phone APP or the on-board display screen, reasonably plan the task and charging time, avoid the interruption caused by battery problems, and improve the convenience and safety of the forklift.

(2) Integration with Internet of Things technology

With the development of Internet of Things technology, the integration of forklift traction lead-acid batteries and the Internet of Things has become a trend. Through the Internet of Things, remote centralized management of a large number of forklift batteries can be achieved. Enterprise management personnel can understand the working status of each forklift battery in real time, and carry out unified scheduling and maintenance of the battery. For example, in the logistics park, forklift trucks can be rationally allocated according to their tasks and battery power to improve equipment utilization. At the same time, through the collection and analysis of battery usage data, it can provide a basis for battery performance optimization, product research and development, and promote the continuous progress of lead-acid battery technology to better meet user needs.

Driven by the strong market demand, forklift traction lead-acid batteries are showing broad prospects for development through multi-dimensional breakthroughs such as technological innovation, environmental transformation and intelligent development. Despite the competition from new battery technology, with its own innovative performance and advantages, lead-acid batteries will continue to play an important role in the future forklift power field, providing stable, efficient and environmentally friendly power support for the development of industrial logistics and related industries.