It is one of the metals most resistant to common corrosion problems. The largest single use of lead today is in the manufacture of the lead-acid storage battery, a vital part of every automobile. The average car battery contains about 10 kg of lead. Lead storage batteries are also used to power such specialized vehicles is forklifts and baggage carts. The use of tetraethyl-lead as an additive in gasoline has been banned in Canada since December 1990, and is being phased out in many other countries.
Lead alloyed with tin is the familiar solder used in plumbing and electronic applications.
Lead has a long history of use as a construction material - roofing, piping and caulking are a few of its applications. These are now declining, but lead sheeting enjoys growing use as a partition sound barrier in office buildings, schools and multiple dwellings. Lead is more resistant to gamma radiation and X rays than any other common metal, and so is widely used as shielding around X-ray equipment and at nuclear installations. In the communications industry, lead is still used extensively as protective sheathing for underground and underwater cables, including transoceanic cable systems. In many less critical applications of this type, however, lead has been replaced by plastic.