Lithium batteries are characterized by high specific energy, high efficiency and long life. These unique properties have made lithium batteries the power sources of choice for the consumer electronics market with a production of the order of billions of units per year. These batteries are also expected to find a prominent role as ideal electrochemical storage systems in renewable energy plants, as well as power systems for sustainable vehicles, such as hybrid and electric vehicles. However, scaling up the lithium battery technology for these applications is still problematic since issues such as safety, costs, wide operational temperature and materials availability, are still to be resolved. This review focuses first on the present status of lithium battery technology, then on its near future development and finally it examines important new directions aimed at achieving quantum jumps in energy and power content. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.