Status of the Li-Al/FeS battery manufacturing technology. An evaluation for the US Army, Belvoir R and D Center

Research and development work on rechargeable lithium/molten salt batteries, sponsored by the US Department of Energy, is under way at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and several industrial laboratories for the past decade. In 1978, a program for the US Army (Belvoir R and D Center) was initiated with ANL and Eagle-Picher Industries to ascertain the status and to aid the development of the manufacturing technology of the Li-Al/FeS battery as a power source for forklift trucks. A long lived cell, achieving greater than 1000 discharge cycles, was developed in the Army program and was used as a basis for a forklift truck battery design. The projected performance of the Li-Al/FeS battery showed a 200% increase in stored energy when compared with a lead acid battery of equal volume.