Batteries
Main > Energy > Power quality
50+ year battery consisting of nickel and iron plates in an electrolyte of Potassium Hydroxide (similar to lye - which I'm guessing you could substitute).
Thomas Edison drove an electric car a hundred years ago. The batteries he used are easy to build and are still operational. Search for 'nickel iron battery', 'edison cell' or 'nife battery'. See http://www.beutilityfree.com/content/ I have a document on how to build one I need to dig up.
Lead acid
Lead acid cells are easy to make too. http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Lead_acid_battery_construction NT 10:42, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
Nickel Iron Batteries
Nickel-iron batteries have 50 year lifetimes, compared to a few-year lifetime of lead acid batteries. They are environmentally more benign, and lend themselves to local recycling and fabrication. They can have higher discharge rates and faster charge times than lead-acid batteries depending on mechanical design of the electrodes etc, so they lend themselves not only to off-grid power, but also to power electronics applications such as welding and heavy workshop power. In China a company by the name of changhong batteries makes a version of them for use in automotive starter batteries. Their energy density is half that of lead-acid batteries, but their long lifetime makes them highly relevant to the GVCS, including to electric farming equipment as the next generation of LifeTrac infrastructure.