While EVs drove early demand for energy-dense batteries using nickel and cobalt, grid-scale storage operates under different priorities—favoring cost-efficiency, thermal stability, long life cycles, and scalable deployment.
Battery energy storage systems (BESS) will have a CAGR of 30 percent, and the GWh required to power these applications in 2030 will be comparable to the GWh needed for all applications today. China could account for 45 percent of total Li-ion demand in 2025 and 40 percent in 2030—most battery-chain segments are already mature in that country.
Electric cars remain the main driver of battery demand, but demand for trucks nearly doubled Battery demand in the energy sector, for both EV batteries and storage applications, reached the historical milestone of 1 TWh in 2024. Demand for one average week alone in 2024 exceeded the total demand for an entire year just a decade earlier.
Just as analysts tend to underestimate the amount of energy generated from renewable sources, battery demand forecasts typically underestimate the market size and are regularly corrected upwards.
Why is global demand for batteries increasing?
Global demand for batteries is increasing, driven largely by the imperative to reduce climate change through electrification of mobility and the broader energy transition.
What is the future of battery energy storage?
Demand for energy storage continues to escalate, the global battery energy storage (BESS) landscape is poised for significant installation growth and technological advancements.
In the STEPS, installed global, grid-connected battery storage capacity increases tenfold until 2030, rising from 27 GW in 2021 to 270 GW. Deployments accelerate further after 2030, with the global installed capacity reaching nearly 1300 GW in 2050.