**Energy Storage Battery Industry Weekly: Continuous Breakthroughs in Storage Technology, 46 Series Cylindrical Batteries to Drive Industry Chain Restructuring**
Key Events: The Policy Promotion Meeting for the “High-Quality Development Action Plan for New Energy Storage Manufacturing Industry” was held in Beijing on March 3. Representatives from relevant ministries, provincial industrial and information authorities, research institutions, industry organizations, and key enterprises attended the meeting.
Participants noted that in recent years, the market scale of China’s new energy storage manufacturing industry has been expanding, the industrial system is becoming more complete, key core technologies are continually being developed, and the cultivation of leading enterprises is showing results, marking the preliminary formation of a global development pattern. While the industry is flourishing, it faces challenges such as poor supply-demand connection, intensified market competition, an imperfect cost diversion mechanism, and a complex international situation, highlighting the urgent need for enhanced top-level design and coordinated planning. The recently released “High-Quality Development Action Plan for New Energy Storage Manufacturing Industry” is timely, providing clear direction for industrial growth and guiding the high-quality development of the new energy storage manufacturing sector.
The action plan emphasizes technological innovation and application expansion as its core focus, aiming to enhance the supply of advanced products, address shortcomings, and support large-scale integration of renewable energy and stable operation of power systems. It also considers the potential of technological development, making forward-looking arrangements, such as the appropriate preemptive layout of hydrogen storage and other long-duration storage technologies, encouraging the development of diverse mixed storage technologies based on application needs, and supporting foundational research into new system batteries, smart batteries, thermal storage, and new physical storage technologies.
Commentary: As a key technology for energy transition and achieving carbon neutrality, energy storage batteries are experiencing unprecedented growth opportunities. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that with the increasing share of wind and solar power generation globally, a significant number of energy storage systems will be needed. By 2050, global installed energy storage battery capacity is expected to reach 3,100 GWh. Furthermore, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence is creating substantial electricity demand for related computing centers, providing greater space for the development of new energy storage solutions.
In this context, the introduction of the “High-Quality Development Action Plan for New Energy Storage Manufacturing Industry” marks a new stage of high-quality development for China’s energy storage sector. This policy not only addresses current industry challenges but also provides a strategic direction for the development of the energy storage battery field through top-level design and forward-looking layout.
Firstly, the policy centers on technological innovation and application expansion, emphasizing the need to enhance the supply capacity of advanced products and address industry shortcomings. While significant progress has been made in energy density, cycle life, and safety, there is still room for improvement. The policy encourages research and development of next-generation batteries and smart batteries, which will promote breakthroughs in material science, manufacturing processes, and system integration, thereby enhancing the overall competitiveness of products. Additionally, the support for the development of diverse mixed storage technologies will optimize the performance of energy storage systems and meet the diverse needs of application scenarios.
Secondly, the policy advocates for an appropriately preemptive layout in hydrogen storage and other long-duration storage technologies, demonstrating a forward-looking approach to potential technological developments. Hydrogen storage, as a long-duration energy storage technology, offers advantages such as high energy density, long storage periods, and environmental friendliness, and is expected to play a crucial role in peak shaving for the grid and large-scale integration of renewable energy. The policy support will accelerate the research and commercialization of hydrogen storage technologies, creating new growth points for the energy storage battery sector. Furthermore, the policy places special emphasis on improving cost diversion mechanisms, which are vital for the sustainable development of the energy storage battery industry. Currently, the high cost of energy storage batteries limits their large-scale commercial application. Through policy guidance, fostering collaborative innovation across the industrial chain, and optimizing cost structures, the comprehensive costs of energy storage batteries can be reduced, enhancing their market competitiveness. The policy also supports the development of technologies such as thermal storage and new physical storage, further enriching the energy storage technology landscape and strengthening the industry’s resilience.
Overall, the introduction of the action plan injects strong momentum into the energy storage battery sector, driving technological innovation and industrial upgrades while providing policy support for the industry to cope with market competition and complex international conditions. In the future, as the policies are implemented, the energy storage battery industry is expected to enter a new phase of high-quality development, offering robust support for China’s energy transition and carbon neutrality goals, while also securing a significant position in the global energy storage market.
Key Events: The Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced on March 4 that compliant regenerated black powder materials for lithium-ion batteries do not qualify as solid waste and can be freely imported.
On March 6, at the economic theme press conference of the 14th National People’s Congress, Zheng Zhaojie, Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, announced the establishment of a national venture capital guidance fund aimed at strengthening innovative enterprises. This fund is expected to mobilize nearly 1 trillion yuan of local and social capital, focusing on hard technology, maintaining long cycles, and increasing tolerance for errors, directing market-oriented investments toward technology-based firms.
According to reports, this fund will focus on cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and hydrogen energy storage, investing in seed and startup companies while also considering small and medium-sized enterprises in their early and mid-stages, supporting original and disruptive technological innovations and key core technology breakthroughs, fostering the development of strategic emerging industries and future industries.
The meeting also discussed the 2025 China Energy Storage Technology Innovation and Application Seminar, held in Hangzhou on March 5, which featured discussions on energy storage talent cultivation, mixed storage technologies, and energy storage deployment in international markets.
Key Data: GGII forecasts that the shipment volume of lithium batteries for data center energy storage will see a compound annual growth rate of over 80% in the next five years. On March 6, GGII released a research report indicating that with the acceleration of the global economy transitioning to one centered around artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things, the demand for computing power is growing at an astonishing rate. The past year has seen an annual growth rate exceeding 400%, far surpassing Moore’s Law.
Data centers primarily use lithium batteries as part of their UPS systems, providing temporary backup power during power outages. As data centers shift towards green energy sources, the application of lithium batteries is evolving from backup types to supply types. GGII projects that by 2027, the global shipment of lithium batteries for data center energy storage will exceed 69 GWh, and by 2030, this number will grow to 300 GWh, with a compound growth rate exceeding 80% from 2024 to 2030.
In 2024, Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon are expected to collectively invest $180 billion in data center infrastructure, with projections of exceeding $320 billion in 2025. By 2030, global general-purpose computing power is expected to reach 3.3 ZFLOPS (FP32), with AI computing power demand reaching 864 ZFLOPS (FP16). The IEA predicts that by 2030, the electricity consumption of global data centers will account for 4%-8% of total electricity consumption, an increase of over 300% from 2024. Within China, data centers have become the ninth largest energy-consuming sector, following steel, chemicals, cement, and non-ferrous industries.
In this context, traditional grid structures can no longer meet the stability demands of high-density computing facilities, and the integration of “data centers + wind + solar + storage” is emerging as a key technological path to resolve the “electricity-computing” imbalance.
Key Enterprises: CATL has produced the world’s first 8-hour lithium battery energy storage system, with a deployment of 24 GWh. On March 6, Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners announced its collaboration with CATL to develop the EnerQB, an 8-hour lithium-ion battery energy storage system set to be deployed across Australia. The EnerQB, co-developed over two years, boasts an 80% increase in energy density and a 45% reduction in parasitic load (energy loss in non-operational states), significantly surpassing existing market technologies.
Unlike traditional storage systems that extend the charge-discharge time of existing 4-hour systems, EnerQB has been optimized from the bottom-up for 8-hour scenarios. As the leading global supplier of energy storage batteries, CATL is further solidifying its technological leadership with this development, targeting high-growth markets such as Australia and Southeast Asia with its 8-hour technology. The company is also promoting the adoption of distributed energy through intelligent ultra-charging stations and offshore microgrid applications.
LG Energy Solution unveiled its next-generation 46 series cylindrical batteries at the InterBattery 2025 exhibition in Seoul on March 6. This new series (4680, 4695, 46120) is reported to offer at least five times the energy and output compared to existing 2170 batteries. The design breakthroughs in the 46 series include a 113% increase in diameter and a 150% increase in height, resulting in a geometric increase in the internal active material filling.
Moreover, LG engineers have adopted a full-tab design for the ear structure, expanding the current path from the traditional single-tab to a fully conductive mode, reducing internal resistance to one-fifth of its original level. This structural innovation results in a significant performance leap, with single-cell energy density exceeding 300 Wh/kg and the potential for substantial improvements in charge-discharge efficiency. The 46 series batteries maintain 85% capacity output even at extreme temperatures of -30°C, redefining technical standards for energy storage devices in cold regions.
During a simulation demonstration at the Ulsan energy storage station in South Korea, the 46120 model energy storage system exhibited a 37% reduction in volume for a 10 MWh energy storage unit while achieving energy efficiency of over 95%. Notably, the modular design allows for flexible expansion similar to Lego blocks, addressing the traditional challenges of expanding energy storage systems.
The mass production of the 46 series batteries is expected to trigger a wave of restructuring across the industry chain. In terms of cathode materials, LG’s innovative NCMA quaternary material has achieved a nickel content breakthrough of 91%, while cobalt use has been reduced to below 5%. A high-speed winding production line capable of 100 meters per minute is set to start production, combined with AI visual inspection systems, stabilizing the yield rate at an industry-leading 99.98%. This vertical integration capability reduces the construction cost of single GWh capacity by 40%, fundamentally transforming the economic equation of power batteries.
Market research firm SNE’s latest forecasts indicate that the introduction of the 46 series batteries will lead to significant expansion of the global cylindrical battery market in 2026, with energy storage applications expected to surpass 45% for the first time. This technological diffusion is fostering a new industrial ecosystem, with various upstream and downstream companies joining LG’s 46 series ecosystem, from intelligent welding robots to nano-silicon-based anode materials.
HOPAX Technology plans to release solid-state battery samples by the end of the year, with semi-solid batteries achieving an energy density of 950 Wh/L. On March 6, HOPAX announced that its semi-solid batteries meet this volume energy density requirement and exceed a cycle life of 500 cycles, having passed safety tests related to puncturing and overcharging.
XINWANDA Storage launched its new generation of 48V smart lithium batteries during MWC 2025 in Barcelona on March 3. The company showcased its comprehensive energy solutions for network applications and introduced a new series of smart lithium batteries, emphasizing the integration of “data energy.”
Overall, the energy storage battery industry is seeing strong momentum, with significant advancements in technology and strategic developments across various enterprises. As the sector continues to evolve, it is well-positioned to contribute to the global energy landscape.
