The history of the 18650 battery began in 1992, when the SONY company developed the first lithium-ion battery of this type. Since then, over the past 28 years, the performance parameters of 18650 Li-Ion batteries, such as capacity and discharge current, have been significantly improved. Today, Li-Ion batteries of this type can be found more and more often in various electrical devices.

Initially, the main producing countries of 18650 batteries were Japan and South Korea. However, when Japanese and South Korean companies started moving their production facilities to China, China became the main producer of this battery. Despite this, lithium-ion batteries are still manufactured in both Japan and South Korea.

Depending on where they are used, Li-Ion batteries can be divided into three groups:

By type of consumer
By power type
By type of energy storage

These three parameters are inversely proportional to lithium-ion batteries. For example, high capacity batteries have low capacity, while high capacity batteries have low capacity.

Lithium-ion batteries have become very popular because lithium is the lightest of all metals, has the highest electrochemical potential, and provides the highest energy density relative to weight. As a result, the energy density of lithium-ion batteries is twice that of traditional nickel-cadmium batteries.

Li-Ion batteries have several advantages over traditional batteries:

They have no memory effect,
Their self-discharge is twice as low as nickel batteries,
They can provide a very high discharge current, so they can be used as a power source in power tools.
Lithium-ion 18650 batteries can be found in a variety of devices, including:

In electric bicycles and electric scooters
In drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles
In LED lamps and other lighting devices
In electric tools and their batteries
In portable speakers
In flashlights and tactical flashlights
In electric cars and hybrid cars

These are just a few examples of where you can find Li-ion 18650 batteries. More and more devices are using this type of battery as an alternative to traditional NiMH and NiCd batteries, as they provide higher energy efficiency, more power and longer life.