The Battery Revolution: From Humble Beginnings to a Power-Packed Future

Rachid Akiki, MD, MBA
2 min readApr 26, 2023

Once upon a time, a groundbreaking invention sparked life in a world without smartphones, laptops, or electric vehicles. In the early 1800s, the first battery was born, and it would revolutionize how we harness and utilize energy.

Imagine living in a world where energy storage was a distant dream. Life would come to a standstill without the ability to power our devices and transport ourselves over long distances. Fortunately, the battery, like a modern-era superhero, has come to our rescue, making previously unimaginable technological advancements possible.

With its natural reactivity, lithium became the secret ingredient that would propel battery technology forward. However, as any superhero story goes, there were challenges to be faced. In its purest form, lithium was volatile and prone to catching fire or exploding when it came into contact with other substances. But with great risk comes great reward, and lithium’s potential was too powerful to ignore.

As time passed, the cost of lithium-ion batteries plummeted, paving the way for a new era of affordable consumer gadgets like laptops. Imagine the excitement and disbelief of consumers in 1992 when they saw the price per kilowatt-hour (kWh) drop from a staggering $6,035 to a mere $244 by 2016.

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Rachid Akiki, MD, MBA

Decentralizing healthcare 🚀 Medical Doctor turned Serial Entrepreneur. Boston & Miami-based. Studied physics, medicine, radiology, & business. Always Learning