hows eee A Battery Of Facts (NAPS)—‘“Watt” do you know about lead-acid batteries? The French scientist, Gaston Plante, invented the lead-acid battery in 1859 to store electrical energy. Today, advanced versions of his batteries are everywhere, power- ing our mobile, wired and wireless society. Today’s lead batteries are powerful, durable, long lived and affordable the technological and environmental standard. ad Lead industrial batteries back up telephones and computersys- tems. During power outages,they keep the phones on and keep computers from losing data. These facts from Battery Council International may surprise you: Lead batteries are recycled more than any other consumer product. More than 90 percent of battery lead is recycled and reused in newbatteries. e If your battery is black,it’s probably made from recycled plastic. During recycling, battery cases are broken into pieces that are melted together. The mixed colors become black recycled plastic. e Acar battery is “dead” only when it reaches the endofits ser- vice life, not when it is merely drained. When you leave your lights on, or your alternator isn’t working, the battery usually can be recharged. Lead batteries power fork and scissor lift trucks, golf carts, mining vehicles, street sweepers, delivery vehicles and passenger shuttles. Battery Council International (www.batterycouncil.org), repre- senting the lead-acid battery man- ufacturing and recyclers in the U.S., is considered to be the authoritative source of information about the lead battery industry.
