The development of e-mobility is at a tipping point with increasingly optimistic forecasts for the future market share of electric vehicles. Nonetheless, for electric vehicles to achieve mass-market penetration, a further improvement in the ratio between driving range and costs is mandatory. Different strategies are considered to increase electric range, including the optimization of battery pack, cell, and electrode. However the largest impact on energy density could be realized through the introduction of novel cathode and anode materials. There are a number of electrode materials currently in the research or development stage. Nevertheless, only a few of them have chances to meet automotive requirements, particularly in terms of lifetime and safety. Considerable improvements in these respects are still required, before a possible industrialization of the new generations of batteries for automotive application can be envisaged. In parallel, more revolutionary concepts based on post-lithium full-solid-state systems are evolving and could offer an even larger improvement potential.

This presentation will outline the potential and limits of present material concepts from a car manufacturer point of view. In particular, it will address open issues to be solved in the future development of electric energy storage technologies for automotive applications.