Many fast-growing technologies designed to address climate change depend on lithium, including electric vehicles (EVs) and big batteries that help wind and solar power provide round-the-clock electricity. This has led to a spike in lithium mining: from 2017 to 2022, demand for lithium tripled, mostly driven by the energy sector.¹

Why is lithium so desirable for these applications? Lithium-ion batteries hold energy well for their mass and size, which makes them popular for applications where bulk is an obstacle, such as in EVs and cellphones. They have also become cheap enough that they can be used to store hours of electricity for the electric grid at a rate utilities will pay.

Two of the most important features of a battery are how much energy it can store, and how quickly it can deliver that energy. On both counts, lithium-ion batteries greatly outperform other mass-produced types like nickel-metal hydride and lead-acid batteries, says Yet-Ming Chiang, an MIT professor of materials science and engineering and the chief science officer at Form Energy, an energy storage company. Lithium-ion batteries have higher voltage than other types of batteries, meaning they can store more energy and discharge more power for high-energy uses like driving a car at high speeds or providing emergency backup power. 

Charging and recharging a battery wears it out, but lithium-ion batteries are also long-lasting. Today’s EV batteries can be recharged at least 1,000 times and sometimes many more without losing their capacity, says Chiang. Plus, unused lithium-ion batteries lose their charge at a much slower rate than other types of batteries.