A zinc–lead dioxide rechargeable cell with an electrolyte composition of 1.5moldm−3 Zn(II), 0.5moldm−3 Na(I) and 0.3moldm−3 sulfuric acid is proposed and tested. The experimental results show that the open circuit potential of the zinc–lead dioxide cell is as high as 2.4V (20% higher than conventional lead-acid cells and 56% higher than recent copper–lead dioxide cells), while the average coulombic and energy efficiencies are 90% and 70%, respectively, over 90 cycles at 20mAcm−2. Furthermore, it is shown that the measured specific energy of the zinc–lead dioxide cell in a stack configuration is about 30% larger than that of a commercial valve regulated lead acid cell at the same operating conditions.