Book excerpt: A one-stop resource for both researchers and development engineers, this comprehensive handbook serves as a daily reference, replacing heaps of individual papers. This second edition features twenty percent more content with new chapters on battery characterization, process technology, failure mechanisms and method development, plus updated information on classic batteries as well as entirely new results on advanced approaches. The authors, from such leading institutions as the US National Labs and from companies such as Panasonic and Sanyo, present a balanced view on battery research and large-scale applications. They follow a distinctly materials-oriented route through the entire field of battery research, thus allowing readers to quickly find the information on the particular materials system relevant to their research.