In the late 1980’s a number of companies and universities were involved efforts to develop and commercialize rechargeable lithium metal batteries. Unfortunately, the formation of high surface area lithium associated with the inefficient stripping and plating of lithium metal in liquid electrolytes doomed the commercial prospects for these battery systems. Not surprisingly, battery developers looked for alternative solutions for the rechargeable battery market, leading ultimately to the commercial introduction of Li-ion technology in 1991. Although Li-ion battery technology has benefited from steady incremental improvements since that time, the market demand for the next generation of disruptive battery technology remains strong. Over the past several years R&D efforts focused on next generation battery technology have covered a broad spectrum of alternative anodes and cathodes as well as the possibility of all solid-state structures and it is not yet clear which of these strategies will lead to commercial success. With regards to lithium-based technologies, there is little doubt that replacing the carbon anode in Li-ion cells with a lithium metal electrode that exhibits highly efficient cycling and safe behavior would lead to a dramatic increase in energy density (Wh/l and Wh/kg). In this presentation we will examine a number of development paths for solid-state anodes, as well as the evolution from Li-ion to safe, rechargeable Li metal batteries.