A brief historical review of various chemistries that have been used in batteries for automotive applications will be provided. This will be followed by an overview of Ford’s electrification strategy and our research and advanced engineering efforts. Next, the material components of lithium-ion cells and modeling of these electrochemical energy storage devices will be discussed. Finally, the challenges in this field and potential opportunities for interdisciplinary research to meet our goals will be highlighted with specific examples from our present collaborations.