Rechargeable lithium batteries have conquered the markets for portable consumer electronics and, recently, for electric and hybrid power trains for different types of vehicles. Consumer applications such as mobile telephones, laptops and calculators, digital cameras and camcorders, portable radios and televisions, electric razors and toothbrushes, and medical and communications equipment have created an ever-increasing market for powerful rechargeable batteries since the 1990s. Lithium batteries have been fast replacing nickel–metal hydride cells. Since the early twenty-first century, large advanced lithium batteries are becoming the new power sources in both the transportation and stationary power markets, including electric vehicle propulsion, standby power, mobile robots for ocean observing, and mission critical applications. To date, lithium-ion batteries have not been exploited to any great extent for storing renewable energy and for grid balancing.