Flexible Batteries Market 2025-2035: Technologies, Forecasts, and Players

This report analyzes the markets, technologies, and players in flexible batteries. It covers 13 application markets and 6 different technologies, and includes a forecast for the overall market from 2025 to 2035, with a breakdown over application markets and technologies. With the market set to grow to over US$500 million by 2035, there are significant opportunities at play for interested investors and OEMs.

 

 

 

Flexible batteries are batteries that can maintain function after multiple cycles of deformation. This deformation depends on the application area and type of flexibility - it could include rollability, bendability, stretchability or compressibility. All batteries must consider 6 core components in their design: cost, lifetime, energy density, power density, environmental concern and safety. Flexible batteries and other niche batteries must also consider advanced properties such as smaller footprint, tailored form factor, optical properties, mechanical properties, and manufacturing methods. A strong battery option will involve a balance of features.

 

Interest in flexible batteries has been consistently niche since the first prototypes in the 1990s. The flexible battery market developed slowly, largely due to a mismatch between technological possibility and theoretical demand. In the last decade, the wearables market has displayed the most interest in flexible battery options, after the boom in wearables technology in 2014. However, the flexible battery options of the 2010s did not conform to OEM requirements. Early flexible batteries tended to be thin-film, printed, frequently non-rechargeable and with low capacity and power. They were better suited to usage where their thinness was valued, e.g. in smart labels and micro-power applications. However, the higher associated costs compared to traditional coin cells drastically limited uptake even in these markets.

 

 

 

More recently, flexible battery players seem to have find their niche, and the market has begun to centralize. Many companies have stopped trading or else moved out of the flexible battery area to make way for seasoned players and novel technology. Still, the market is a long way from consolidation - it is mostly formed from many smaller players rather than a few diversified companies.

 

Two broad categories of flexible battery technology can be identified. The first consists of the thin battery systems that dominated the market in the past. Of these, printed zinc technologies are the most significant, with thin-film solid-state and primary lithium-based batteries making up a relatively small proportion of the overall market. Thin-film battery players have explored many potential applications in the past, including a range of IoT devices, skin patches, medical implants, smart cards and interactive media. More recently, players have focused on IoT applications, especially smart labels and RFID tags for logistics and product monitoring. This market offers great potential for thin batteries, which tend to be flexible. The value proposition for smart labels is a reduction in product losses. For example, a temperature monitoring tag can be used to ensure that shipments in transit are always at acceptable conditions. This is especially important for perishables, e.g. medicines or food. Thinness and flexibility allow labels to be attached to any surface regardless of uniformity, and reduced weight is favored. Thin, flexible battery players have developed smart label lines in partnership with major logistics companies, acting as component providers and in some cases providing complete products (e.g. complete printed smart labels).

 

The second category of flexible battery technology consists of higher-capacity cells, usually utilizing advanced cell packaging techniques to allow for flexibility despite their relative thickness. Bulk solid-state and advanced lithium-ion batteries are the primary technologies. Flexible ceramic and polymer electrolytes see frequent use in this sector, or else swollen gel-polymer electrolytes. These products are largely aimed towards wearables and consumer electronics applications. The demand for higher capacity has finally begun to be realized, though it should be noted that products in this category tend to be at a lower level of commercial readiness. A more detailed analysis is conducted in the report, including technology benchmarking and profiling of major players.

 

 

 

This extreme differentiation has allowed different technologies to establish their own niches with less competition between flexible battery players. This is shown by the relatively small changes in technology proportions expected over the next decade.

 

This report contains analysis of multiple application markets, many of which IDTechEx has studied closely for more than a decade. IDTechEx analysts drew from past reports and analysis, as well as direct interviews and exchanges with relevant players. IDTechEx's unique expertise has allowed for the collation of critical market intelligence and analysis, culminating in a cohesive ten-year forecast.

 

 

This report provides market analysis for the flexible battery market with a focus on potential application markets and the drivers of future market growth. This includes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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