Most likely you have some products that are using lithium-ion batteries, nowadays they are used in a lot of different devices, such as cell phones, laptops and power tools. Also electric cars are using lithium-ion batteries, obviously they need much larger batteries than smaller devices. This is one reason why some people are worried that the supply of lithium will not be able to meet the demand once electric cars become popular.

The rechargeable lithium-ion batteries have a number of advantages compared with other types of rechargeable batteries. They have high energy density meaning that they can be made powerful but still lightweight, a very useful combination for portable devices. Compared with earlier types of rechargeable batteries, lithium-ion batteries have no memory effect and slow loss of charge when idle. Lithium-ion batteries can be charged more than thousand times. Unlike many other rechargeable battery types, lithium-ion batteries contain no toxic metals.

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are not a new invention, the first working model was developed in 1979. A very important breakthrough came 1985, by using lithium cobalt oxide rather than metallic lithium, most safety concerns were solved. The first commercial lithium-ion battery was released in 1991. In the early days, the batteries were expensive but thanks to technological progress, the batteries have improved while prices have dropped. But lithium-ion batteries are still expensive compared to most other rechargeable batteries.

Safety has been an issue for a long time. Hot batteries can in worst case explode. Overcharging a battery can make it hot, which could cause it to explode or catch fire. Only a few batteries have caught fire but the risk is real, although extremely low. Dell recalled over four million batteries after an incident with a burning laptop. After that a potential problem was found in batteries manufactured by Sony, more than nine million batteries have been recalled. One reason why lithium-ion batteries are more expensive than other types of rechargeable batteries is due to the fact that the safety measures required for lithium-ion batteries are more expensive than for other types of rechargeable batteries.

By recycling lithium-Ion batteries, the supply of lithium can be boosted. In 2007, batteries made up 25% of the total use of lithium, and the share is growing. This growing demand for lithium can cause trouble in the future but recycling of batteries has been suggested as the solution. Recycled batteries could supply much of the lithium needed for new batteries in the future. This is especially important if, or when, electric cars become popular. But so far only one company, Unicore of Belgium, has a process for recycling lithium-ion batteries. In other words, it is still far to go before a working recycling infrastructure is in place. One problem is that recycling lithium-Ion batteries is much more complicated, and expensive, than recycling standard lead-acid batteries.