F E A T U R E

Brandon Smith, VP of Global Sales and Product at ZincFive

Lithium-ion was once the assumed successor to VRLA. Today, that assumption is being tested in brownfield environments.

Despite improved performance and lifespan compared to VRLA, lithium-ion deployments often require enclosure modifications, fire suppression upgrades and extended compliance reviews. What begins as a battery replacement can quickly expand into a broader infrastructure project, increasing cost, risk and time to deployment.

A changing regulatory and supply chain landscape

The EU Battery Regulation( 2023 / 1542) further reinforces this shift, introducing increasingly rigorous requirements around material sourcing, end-of-life management and lifecycle transparency.

By requiring a digital battery passport, which requires carbon footprint and other sustainability metrics to be validated by an accredited third party and placed in the public domain, introduces a new level of transparency and accountability across the supply chain, with compliance responsibility extending to operators and integrators.

Meanwhile, battery supply chains are under increasing scrutiny. Lithium is among the materials most exposed to geopolitical concentration risk and along with lead-based systems face growing pressure around lifecycle performance and evolving sustainability expectations.

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