Summary

Lithium ion batteries have increasingly become the workhorse power source for the consumer electronics and power tool market and they are finding new applications all the time.  For example, some firms are developing lithium ion batteries for the electric vehicle (EV) market, while others seem them as a better bet than the more traditional chemical storage batteries currently used in smart electricity grids.

Within the consumer electronics and power tool sector, the market is looking for longer times between charges and quicker charging from lithium ion batteries and these performance measures will be key competitive factors going forward among the various kinds of lithium ion batteries being deployed.  Elsewhere other measures – such as the cost of energy storage – will determine how well lithium ion batteries will do in sectors such as EV and smart grids.

Most of these critical factors will ultimately be determined by the materials that are chose for lithium ion batteries; especially the electrode materials used.  This report examines the commercial implications of the newer materials that are being put forward for electrode materials.  As the table of contents below indicates, the materials that we have covered in this report include nanostructured carbon and silicon, titanates, vanadium oxides, mixed metal oxides and a variety of lithium compounds.

This report explains the emerging requirements for battery performance in each of the main application sectors for lithium ion batteries and then shows how these translate into demand for novel electrode materials.  It also analyzes the market strategies of major materials and battery firms active in this space.  The report also provides the eight-year forecasts by application and material type.