Lithium-ion batteries are expanding well beyond their initial market in personal electronics, to encompass electric vehicles, the electricity grid and some forms of electric flight. These new applications require new standards for higher performance, lower cost and greater safety. Batteries have several promising options to meet these challenges, including incremental improvements to the basic lithium-ion platform, substantial modifications of the lithium-ion platform, (often called advanced lithium-ion) and entirely new concepts beyond the lithium-ion platform. The challenges, opportunities and applications of each option will be considered.

This work was supported as part of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences.