The humble lithium-ion battery is making a big comeback: After powering our phones and laptops for the past two decades, the lithium-ion battery is going after bigger and better things. The expanding use of batteries in varying sectors is set to change the way we consume power in our everyday lives, decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels, transforming the automobile industry in particular, and threatening to disrupt the “just-in-time” electricity production model that energy grids traditionally rely on.

The automobile industry is loving lithium-ion: The falling costs of battery production over the past decade — driven by soaring demand by automobile companies racing to get ahead in the EV game — have made it so that most vehicle manufacturers expect to be able to produce electric cars that cost the same as gas-powered vehicles within the next five years. The EV industry is the largest currently powering battery demand and consumes two thirds of the world’s production of lithium-ion batteries, with that figure expected to increase to three quarters by 2030.

And demand is only set to grow: Toyota says it plans to generate at least half its sales from EVs by 2025, and General Motors plans to phase out gas-powered cars altogether by 2035. Battery-powered cars are expected to make up 22% of new cars sold in 2025 according to estimates from Deutsche Bank, up from 4% in 2017.

Scaling up and adapting the energy grid: But the lithium-ion battery’s ambitions don’t end at EVs. The same battery technology is being used on some power grids, with construction underway on a 2.5 mn lithium-ion cell battery in Florida, which its makers say will be able to power Disney World for 7 hours. The more frequent use of batteries on the energy grid will increase our ability to generate then store energy for future use, and will eliminate the need for “peakers;” natural gas burning facilities fired up for the few hours when demand peaks on a particularly hot or cold day to generate on-the-spot power.

Innovations in battery manufacturing could be worth bns: The traditional lithium-ion battery relies on the movement of the lithium-ions through a liquid from the anode to the cathode to discharge energy, thereby providing power. But innovations in battery technology are on the horizon, such as attempts to develop a scalable solid-state battery — one that does not rely on a liquid electrolyte as a conductor — which would allow batteries, and by extension cars, to be charged faster. Such batteries are already on display by US firm Quantumscape, which last December said it had developed a battery that could charge 80% in 15, versus 40 minutes.

Could more battery reliance prompt a geopolitical energy shift? Shifting away from fossil fuels could give Asia a huge competitive advantage, as nearly 65% of lithium-ion batteries are currently produced in China. US-based and European firms have hurried to get in on the industry, with the EU launching the European Battery Alliance in 2017 to increase the supply and competitiveness of battery production on the continent. The lithium itself that is necessary for battery production is mostly mined in Australia and Chile — with some output from the US — though it all comes down to who has cheaper access to battery manufacturing chains. Supplying the raw materials, controlling the manufacturing process of batteries, as well as new breakthroughs in the types of batteries on the horizon could be the key to controlling the energy industries of the future.