Electrical energy storage (EES) is crucial in energy industry from generation to consumption. It can help to balance the difference between generation and consumption, which can improve the stability and safety of power grid. Share of renewable energy generation and low emission energy utilization at consumption side can grow up via the development of EES technology, which could reduce the emission of Greenhouse gas in the whole energy chain. Nowadays, the usage of EES are becoming broader not only in normal environment but also in some harsh environment such as underground, space and very cold climate, which brings new challenges from energy storage element (cell) technology to system packaging technology. This paper reviewed the available energy storage technologies, and their special requirements and applications in harsh environment. More attentions were paid to the usage of EES in cold climate application both for transportation such as electric vehicles (EV), and stationary application including large/small scale energy storage located in cold area, where stable discharge/charge at temperature lower than −20 °C are required. Finally, a comprehensive review of the current technology from cell level to package was presented, and possible directions for R&D in the future to widen the operation temperature range of battery were proposed.