# Lead-acid batteries: Overview

The century-old battery still starting cars and powering home inverters

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_lead_acid/overview/

What this tile covers The old workhorse of car starters, UPS units and home inverters. Share of use <.01% share of world stored energy (2025)

Share of the world's stored energy (energy capacity held, TWh, latest year 2019 to 2026) across the forms with figures, about 22,551 TWh; fuel stocks dominate. Battery and other stores count capacity, not state of charge (calculated) The world lead-acid market is about 400 to 450 GWh a year (IRENA, 2025); with a service life of about 3 to 4 years (US DOE) the installed base is roughly 1.5 TWh, mostly car starter and backup batteries. Source: [Sodium-ion batteries: technology brief](https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2025/Nov/IRENA_TEC_Sodium-ion_batteries_2025.pdf), IRENA.

#### Key facts

| **Duration** | Hours |
|---|---|

#### Included from the reference tables

- Lead-acid

#### Linked to the material world
[Pb Lead](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/)[H2SO4 Sulphuric acid](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/sulphuric_acid/)

#### Also in Electrochemical
[LFP Lithium iron phosphate batteries](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_li_lfp/)[NMC Nickel-rich lithium-ion batteries](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_li_nmc/)[SSB Next-generation lithium batteries](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_li_next/)[Na+ Sodium-ion batteries](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_sodium_ion/)[NiB Nickel-based batteries](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_nickel_batt/)[VRF Flow batteries](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_flow_batt/)[NaS High-temperature batteries](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_hightemp_batt/)[FeAir Metal-air batteries](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_metal_air/)[Zn Other and primary batteries](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_other_batt/)

Explore paths from here
 More on this tile in the tabs above: science and technology, engineering and performance, economics, impact and additionality, what to track.

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_lead_acid/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_lead_acid/correlation/index.md)
- [Science and technology](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_lead_acid/sg-sci/index.md)
- [Engineering and performance](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_lead_acid/sg-eng/index.md)
- [Economics](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_lead_acid/sg-econ/index.md)
- [Impact and additionality](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_lead_acid/sg-impact/index.md)
- [What to track](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_lead_acid/tracking/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_lead_acid/links/index.md)