Developments in lithium rechargeable batteries since the last International Power Sources Symposium in Manchester in 2001 are described. The major developments are that, as expected, lithium cobalt oxide cathode material is being replaced by lithium cobalt/nickel oxide and polymer electrolyte batteries are now coming into production. Likely future developments are new cathode and electrolyte materials to reduce cost and to improve safety. Some research has been reported on sodium-ion batteries. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.