Batteries & Energy Storage

1749 · 277 years ago

Benjamin Franklin first used the term "battery" for linked Leyden jars

Franklin coined the term while experimenting with a set of linked Leyden jar capacitors, borrowing the military word for weapons working together. Multiplying holding vessels allowed a stronger charge to be stored and more power delivered on discharge, establishing the naming convention still used.

1800 · 226 years ago

Alessandro Volta built and described the first electrochemical battery, the voltaic pile

The Italian physicist stacked copper and zinc plates separated by brine-soaked paper disks, producing a steady current for a considerable length of time. It was the first device to convert chemical energy into sustained electrical power, founding the capability outright.

1812 · 214 years ago

Zamboni pile was invented, offering very long service life at tiny currents

The Zamboni pile supplies only nanoamps but can run without refurbishment or recharge for extraordinary periods. The Oxford Electric Bell has rung almost continuously since 1840 on what are thought to be its original Zamboni piles.

1834 · 192 years ago

Michael Faraday showed that battery voltage arose from chemical reactions at the electrodes

Volta had believed his cells were an inexhaustible energy source and that electrode corrosion was a mere nuisance. Faraday demonstrated that corrosion was an unavoidable consequence of operation, establishing the electrochemical basis of battery science.

1836 · 190 years ago

John Frederic Daniell invented the Daniell cell, the first practical source of electricity

The British chemist's cell used a copper pot of copper sulfate with an unglazed earthenware container of sulfuric acid and a zinc electrode. Unlike earlier batteries with fluctuating voltages, it became an industry standard and was widely adopted to power electrical telegraph networks.

19th century · 226 years ago

Inventors of the dry cell replaced liquid electrolyte with a paste, making portable electrical devices practical

Wet cells used liquid electrolytes prone to leakage and housed in fragile glass jars, making them unsuitable for portable appliances. Near the end of the nineteenth century the dry cell, using a paste electrolyte, removed that constraint and opened the way to portable battery power.

1859 · 167 years ago

Gaston Planté invented the lead-acid battery

The French physicist's design was the first practical rechargeable battery and remains in production today, still the standard choice for starting petrol and diesel engines.

1866 · 160 years ago

Georges Leclanché invented the carbon-zinc wet cell

The French engineer's design, refined soon after into the dry cell, became the basis for the disposable battery that powered household devices for the next century.

1899 · 127 years ago

Waldemar Jungner invented the nickel-cadmium battery

The Swedish engineer's alkaline rechargeable cell became the dominant technology for portable power tools and electronics for most of the twentieth century, before lithium-ion displaced it.

1976 · 50 years ago

Stanley Whittingham demonstrated an early rechargeable lithium battery

Working at Exxon during the oil price shocks, he built a working lithium cell that, despite safety problems, opened the search for the practical lithium chemistries developed over the following decade.

1980 · 46 years ago

John Goodenough identified lithium cobalt oxide as a cathode material

The discovery, made while working in Britain, gave rechargeable lithium batteries the higher voltage and stability needed to move from laboratory curiosity toward a commercial product.

1985 · 41 years ago

Akira Yoshino developed a workable lithium-ion cell design in Japan

Combining a carbon anode with a cobalt oxide cathode at Asahi Kasei produced the first practical, safe rechargeable lithium battery design, the template still used in most cells today.

1991 · 35 years ago

Sony commercialised the first lithium-ion battery

The launch, initially for camcorders, turned a laboratory chemistry into a mass-market product and set the trajectory that would eventually lead to lithium-ion dominance in vehicles and grid storage.

• Consumer electronics makers adopted the new cells within a few years

1996 · 30 years ago

United States Congress passed the Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act

The Act banned the sale of mercury-containing batteries and enacted uniform labelling requirements for rechargeable batteries. It also required that rechargeable batteries be easily removable, an early regulatory constraint on battery design.

2000s · 26 years ago

Battery makers introduced batteries with embedded electronics and smart packs

Developments included USBCELL, allowing an AA cell to be charged through a USB connector, and nanoball batteries with discharge rates around 100 times greater than conventional cells. Smart battery packs added state-of-charge monitors and protection circuits preventing damage on over-discharge.

2009 · 17 years ago

China launched its Ten Cities, Thousand Vehicles programme

State subsidies and procurement for electric buses and cars in pilot cities began the industrial policy push that eventually made China the world's largest electric vehicle and battery market.

2009 · 17 years ago

Experimental lithium iron phosphate battery technology achieved the fastest charging and energy delivery then demonstrated

LiFePO4 cells were shown discharging all their energy into a load in 10 to 20 seconds. The result marked a step change in achievable power density for lithium chemistries.

2025 · last year

The European Union began phasing in its Battery Regulation

Carbon footprint declaration and due diligence requirements for batteries sold in the bloc started to take effect, adding compliance costs intended to push manufacturers toward more transparent and lower-carbon supply chains.

2025 · last year

China tightened export controls on battery production technology

Restrictions on licensing certain cathode and processing technology abroad extended a pattern already seen in solar manufacturing, aimed at preserving China's manufacturing lead as other countries tried to build rival battery industries.

• Australian lithium producers idled or slowed several mines

2025 · last year

Morocco attracted large Chinese investment in battery material plants

Chinese cathode and precursor material producers committed billions of dollars to new Moroccan facilities, using the country's free trade access to position output for European and US markets while easing exposure to tariffs on Chinese-made components.

2025 · last year

India advanced its production-linked incentive scheme for battery cells

New gigafactory projects backed by domestic conglomerates moved toward construction and early output under the scheme, part of a broader push to build an advanced chemistry cell manufacturing base and reduce import dependence.

2025 · last year

South Korean battery makers pivoted toward lower-cost LFP chemistry

Facing thinner margins on premium nickel-based cells and competition from cheaper Chinese lithium iron phosphate batteries, LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On expanded LFP development and leaned more heavily on energy storage system sales.

• SK On restructured operations to conserve cash

2025 · last year

The United States scaled back electric vehicle and battery tax incentives

New tax legislation ended the consumer purchase credit for electric vehicles and tightened other support, though manufacturing credits for domestic battery production continued in a reduced form, and several planned gigafactory projects slowed or paused.

• Battery manufacturing tax credits survived in narrower form

2025 · last year

CATL unveiled a sodium-ion battery aimed at mass production

The new chemistry, intended to reduce reliance on lithium and cobalt, targeted lower-cost applications such as small vehicles and stationary storage, with production plans set for the following year.

2025 · last year

CATL completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong

The world's largest battery maker raised several billion dollars in one of the year's biggest share sales, reinforcing its ability to fund overseas plants even as Western governments pushed to reduce reliance on Chinese cell supply.

2024 · 2 years ago

Battery developers demonstrated prototype car batteries charging 10% to 80% in five minutes

A prototype electric-car battery was shown charging from 10 to 80 per cent in five minutes, while a Chinese company claimed its introduced car batteries did so in 10.5 minutes, the fastest available. This compared with Tesla's 15 minutes to half-charge.

Late 2024 · 2 years ago

Indonesia's battery ecosystem consortium scaled back parts of its investment plan

The multi-billion dollar project, built around Indonesia's nickel reserves and led by a South Korean-backed consortium, slowed several planned stages as global electric vehicle demand growth undershot earlier forecasts.

Late 2024 · 2 years ago

Northvolt collapsed into bankruptcy

Once Europe's best-funded battery start-up, the Swedish cell maker filed for Chapter 11 protection in the United States before its parent entered bankruptcy proceedings at home, a severe setback for European ambitions to build a domestic battery industry.

• Northvolt's Swedish gigafactory was sold off in restructuring

December 2022 · 4 years ago

European Parliament agreed to require user-replaceable batteries in appliances from 2026

The agreement will force manufacturers to design all electrical appliances sold in the EU, other than those used predominantly in wet conditions, so that consumers can easily remove and replace the batteries themselves. It imposes a design constraint across the entire European market.

2019 · 7 years ago

John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The prize recognised their roles in developing the lithium-ion battery across the 1970s and 1980s, the chemistry that now underpins portable electronics and most electric vehicles.

• The prize citation credited the trio with creating a rechargeable world

February 2017 · 9 years ago

University of Texas at Austin team led by John Goodenough announced a new type of solid-state battery

The press release described work by a team led by the lithium-ion battery inventor on a chemistry promising safer, faster-charging and longer-lasting rechargeable cells. Applications cited included handheld mobile devices, electric cars and stationary energy storage.

2017 · 9 years ago

Tesla built the world's largest battery in South Australia

The installation could store 129 MWh, making it the largest battery in the world as of that year. It demonstrated the commercial viability of utility-scale battery storage on electricity grids.

2013 · 13 years ago

Chinese developers in Hebei Province built a 36 MWh grid battery at a cost of $500 million

The installation covered 2,000 square metres, larger than a football pitch, and weighed 1,300 tonnes. It exemplified the early move to grid-scale battery storage.

2010–18 · 16 years ago

Global battery industry grew demand by 30% annually to 180 GWh

Battery demand expanded at roughly 30 per cent a year over the period, reaching 180 GWh in 2018. Growth was driven by electrification of transport and large-scale deployment in electricity grids, supported by decarbonisation initiatives, with demand projected to reach 2600 GWh by 2030.