# [TECH] Battery Technology

**Battery Technology** encompasses devices that store chemical energy and convert it to electrical energy on demand — from Volta's pile (1800) and Planté's lead-acid cell (1859) to the lithium-ion battery (1991) that powers modern electronics and electric vehicles.

## Overview

Alessandro Volta's voltaic pile (1800) demonstrated electrochemical electricity generation. Gaston Planté's rechargeable lead-acid battery (1859) enabled the first practical electrical energy storage. The lithium-ion battery — lithium cobalt oxide cathode (Goodenough, 1980), lithium intercalation anode (Whittingham, 1976), carbon anode with organic electrolyte (Yoshino/Sony, 1991) — achieved energy densities 5–10× higher than lead-acid with far better cycle life. Battery costs fell from USD 1,200/kWh (2010) to USD 130/kWh (2023), the steepest cost reduction of any energy storage technology.

The lithium-ion battery made portable computing, smartphones, and practical electric vehicles all possible within roughly a 30-year span (1991–2023).

## Key Actors

- **Companies**: Sony (first commercial Li-ion, 1991), CATL (largest battery manufacturer, 2011), Panasonic, Samsung SDI, LG Energy Solution, BYD
- **Inventors**: John B. Goodenough (1922–2023), M. Stanley Whittingham (1941–), Akira Yoshino (1948–)

## Key Patents

- Goodenough, J. US Patent 4,302,518 (1980) — LiCoO₂ cathode material
- Whittingham, M.S. US Patent 4,009,052 (1977) — lithium intercalation electrode
- Yoshino, A. JP Patent S61-33669 (1985) — carbon anode Li-ion cell (Sony commercialised 1991)

## Economic Value

Global battery market: USD 150 billion/year (2023, BloombergNEF), growing to USD 600 billion/year by 2030. Li-ion batteries enable the EV market (USD 850 billion/year), portable electronics (USD 500+ billion/year), and grid-scale storage (USD 50 billion/year, growing rapidly).

## Notes

**Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019** awarded to Goodenough, Whittingham, and Yoshino. BloombergNEF Battery Price Survey 2023 for cost trajectory. BNEF New Energy Outlook 2023 for market projections.

## What This Enables

- **[TECH] Electric Vehicles (EVs)** — Rechargeable Li-ion packs (60–100+ kWh) are the primary enabling technology that makes EVsfor practical and cost-competitive with ICE vehiclesEVs.
- **[TECH] Mobile Phones & Smartphones** — Li-ion batteries (Sony, 1991) make smartphones light and thin enough to carry; a typical smartphone battery holds ~15 Wh at ~150 g per cell.

# Parents

* [SCI] Electrochemistry
* [SCI] Electrochemistry
* [TECH] Chemical Industry
* [SCI] Semiconductor Physics