So there are plenty of folks with an interest in pushing battery technology forward, and 2017 brought a raft of exciting breakthroughs aimed at making them safer, longer-lasting, faster-charging and more cost effective. Here's the best of the bunch.

The chances of lithium-ion batteries failing is very low, but with so many of them in use everyday the chances of something going wrong somewhere in the world are very real. Flaming Samsung smartphones and exploding "hoverboards" (we're still reluctant to call them that, but whatever) are evidence of that. 

Today's batteries already come with chips embedded that track voltage, temperature and the charge they are holding, allowing for warning systems like the one you'll see on an iPhone screen when the handset gets too hot. But researchers are always looking for ways to keep them cool, and one way of achieving this could be to substitute the combustible electrolyte, the liquid that carries the ions, with something less flammable.