2.5. The lead-acid battery in practice
2.5.1. How much does a battery cost?
Here we only intend to give a rough estimate of price. Besides all the considerations of quality and use, cost is, of course, important.
Battery type
Application
Commonly used system voltage, capacity and energy content
Price indication ex. VAT
Price indication per kWh
V
Ah
kWh
USD or EURO
USD or EURO per kWh
Start
Cranking
12
100
1.2
100
80
Spiral-cell
Cranking, bow-thruster House battery up to approx. 600 Ah House battery up to approx. 600 Ah. Also cranking and bow thruster House battery up to approx. 2000 Ah House battery up to approx. 600 Ah
12 12
60
0.72
250 300
350 125
Semi-traction
200
2.4
VRLA AGM battery
12
230
2.8
600
210
Traction (tubular-plate) VRLA-gel Sonnenschein Dryfit A200 VRLA-gel Sonnenschein Dryfit A600
24
1000
24
4.500
190
12
200
2.4
500
210
House battery up to approx. 1500 Ah
24
1500
36
11.000
305
The table shows that cost varies greatly dependant on the choice of battery, and particularly that wet batteries are less expensive than VRLA batteries.
VRLA batteries do offer great ease of use, they:
- - -
are maintenance free.
do not gas (provided that the battery is not charged with excessive voltage).
can be installed in places with difficult access.
On the other hand sealed batteries are very sensitive to overcharging (the exception is the spiral-cell battery). Overcharging results in gassing (through the safety valve) which means water loss that can never be replenished, resulting in capacity loss and premature aging.
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