Lithium ion batteries rule the energy storage world today.  Lithium has its limitations and also China has a solid grip over Lithium supplies, which is a strategic headache for India. Fortunately, other, non-Lithium technologies are catching up.

The hottest among the challengers are the metal-air batteries, particularly, Zinc-air and Aluminum-air.

Metal-air batteries, though better.than Li-ion in many respects, are not yet quite there because they come with a host of technical problems. But the message from the research laboratories is that these issues are well on their way to be solved. It's only a matter of time before metal-air batteries replace Li-ion, at least to a large extent if not fully.

Businesses are therefore advised to wait and watch before putting down money into Li-ion capacities.