Lead Acid Batteries: How Cheap Beat Cool at Google

I don't understand this, the guy seems to be bashing Li-ion as a technology of hype because google uses lead acid on battery backups.

I don't know of any company that would use lithium for that purpose... it would be far too expensive (both in battery cost and additional circuitry). But that does not mean that lithium is hype, its all about energy density, good luck trying to drive an electric car with lead acid cells in the back, it would weigh a ton.

Maybe he should use a lead acid battery... in his cell phone.

Lead acid is great for many purposes: cheap, ridiculously easy charging circuity, good enough energy density. But li-ion certainly has purposes where energy density is a concern.

Lead acid batteries are cheap, dense, high capacity, and can handle deep recharge cycles and high drain reasonably well.

They're the obvious choice when you don't care about weight. I'd be surprised if Google didn't chose them.