The lead acid battery industry repeats a mantra that almost all of them are recycled and they are by far the lowest cost solution for cars and much else besides. Many forces now question and begin to change this.

Cleantech Hub reports that a mere 13% of lead acid batteries are recycled in Nigeria. Yet there is a mini-grid revolution about to take off in Nigeria, such as the World Bank and the Rural Electrification Agency $350 million project as well as other investments into the sector, driving more batteries.

The cost of renewable energies such as tidal and wave power in the open sea, wind and solar power have come down greatly in recent years but they are rarely considered viable for base power, largely because of the energy storage needed.

In this premium article IDTechEx highlights some of the presentations analysts found interesting, with commentary, as well as shared insight on interviews undertaken with the market leaders and new entrants on the exhibition floor.

Some supercapacitors will become smart materials and be sold as feedstock by value added material companies such as Dow DuPont and Nitto Denko. Which companies and when is as yet uncertain. This is part of the emerging big picture for supercapacitors that will make even their materials a multi- billion dollar business.

As society and equipment become more mobile and remote from grids, diesel and gas gensets will be bought in larger numbers for a few years yet - possibly peaking at around $30 billion global market size when over 600GW will be deployed. The Zero Genset market will rise to at least $100 billion if it replaces significant grid power.

Supercapacitor materials are rapidly improving by new routes. The active materials are the dominant part of cost and the cause of limitations such as flammability, toxicity, cost, energy density and self- discharge. Currently the active electrodes almost always consist of bulk "hierarchical" carbon with a range of pore sizes, often made the old way from botanical materials.

In any emerging technology, the pace of innovation is rapid, sometimes dauntingly so. Patent Analytics is a service that IDTechEx provides utilising our long-standing expertise in a range of emerging technologies to provide clients of our services the answers they need.

The transportation industry is renewing itself from within finds new IDTechEx Research report "Electric Trucks and Delivery Vans 2018-2028".

In this article IDTechEx gives a short overview of the topic of wide bandgap semiconductors covering the fundamental material science, the key players, the market potential. The impact on a range of applications will also be discussed, with a focus on renewable energy systems and microgrids.

IDTechEx attended the event last week to meet with key stakeholders including industrial OEMs, power module manufacturers, established semiconductor companies and innovative new GaN (gallium nitride) and SiC (silicon carbide) developers to report back on the current and future trends. The following article is the second of two parts and provides a summary of some of the key GaN related developments and at the event and their impact on various industries and applications.

IDTechEx Analyst Dr Na Jiao attended The China International Battery Fair (CIBF), the first legal international battery fair in the Chinese battery industry, which is held every two years.

IDTechEx attended the event last week to meet with key stakeholders including industrial OEMs, power module manufacturers, established semiconductor companies and innovative GaN (gallium nitride and SiC (silicon carbide) developers to report back on the current and future trends.

IDTechEx analyst, Dr Na Jiao, reports her findings from the Battery Show Europe 2018

Here are some outstanding achievements with much further to go: the Lighting a Billion Lives campaign from 2007 and allied work extending into solar weaving, cooking and boat charging.

RFBs have the potential to become a mainstream technology that will compete directly with lithium-ion and sodium-sulphur, currently the two leading chemistries in the stationary storage market.

The Battery Show is one of the largest events around the world on energy storage for electric vehicles, which is held annually in Novi, MI.

The previous article looked at material opportunities for thermal management and this article looks at the additional componentry.

The Battery Show is one of the largest events around the world on energy storage for electric vehicles, which is held annually in Novi, MI.

This two-part series will look at some of the materials opportunities emerging in electric vehicle for both batteries and other componentry. This information will be taking highlights from two recent trade shows: Foam Expo (Novi, USA) and The Battery Show co-located with Electric and hybrid vehicle technology expo.