Shenzhen, May 18, 2026 – The 18th China International Battery Fair (CIBF 2026) kicked off at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center on May 13, attracting nearly 3,200 enterprises from the entire battery industry chain at home and abroad, including CATL, BYD, and EVE Energy. Against the backdrop of the "14th Five-Year Plan" opening, the global battery industry is experiencing a critical turning point from scale expansion to quality improvement, with fierce price competition gradually giving way to value-driven development.
Wang Zeshen, Secretary-General of the China Industrial Association of Power Sources, pointed out the industry pain points at the exhibition and put forward three suggestions for industrial development. He emphasized that the industry should take innovation as the "anchor" to promote the shift from "price war" to "value war", take green development as the "passport" to actively align with international standards and rules, and take collaboration as the "ecosystem" to build a new pattern of mutual survival and prosperity across the entire industrial chain.
Industry data shows that China's battery industry is steadily moving towards high-quality development. In 2025, the total export value of China's batteries reached 82.279 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 22.8%, among which lithium-ion battery exports hit 76.746 billion US dollars, a year-on-year growth of 25.55%, with the proportion of high-value products steadily rising. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, China's lithium battery output reached approximately 510 GWh, a year-on-year increase of more than 50%, and the export volume of lithium batteries maintained a high growth rate, reaching 23.95 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 54.7%.
Technological innovation has become the core driving force for the industry's transformation. Semi-solid batteries, which balance high safety and cost control, have emerged as star products with great commercial potential at this exhibition. Yang Hongxin, Chairman and CEO of Honeycomb Energy, stated that 2026 is the first year of hybrid solid-liquid batteries. The company will mass-produce multiple models equipped with 100-kWh hybrid solid-liquid batteries in September this year, and the second-generation products to be launched next year will double the safety performance without increasing costs or requiring large-scale production line renovation.
The commercialization path of sodium-ion batteries is also becoming increasingly clear. Yang Hongxin noted that anode-free sodium-ion batteries have become competitive with lithium iron phosphate batteries in terms of cost, and their energy density is expected to reach 180-200 Wh/kg in the future. These batteries are expected to be put into production next year in power scenarios sensitive to cost but relatively tolerant of volume. Meanwhile, Chinese researchers have made pioneering breakthroughs in electrolyte technology – a team composed of researchers from Nankai University and the Shanghai Institute of Space Power Sources has developed new fluorinated hydrocarbon solvent molecules, which can significantly improve battery energy density and low-temperature adaptability, a result published in the international academic journal Nature in February.
The application scenario innovation is also reshaping the battery product definition. In the passenger car market, driven by high-power consumption scenarios such as in-vehicle intelligent driving systems and "camping mode", the traditional HEV battery capacity of about 1 kWh can no longer meet terminal demand. Honeycomb Energy has launched the first mass-produced 3.6-kWh HEV battery and is developing 5 to 9-kWh lithium iron phosphate versions, which can support pure electric cruising of more than ten kilometers and significantly improve fuel-saving efficiency without increasing costs.
In the energy storage sector, Chinese enterprises are actively exploring high-profit overseas markets and segmented fields to avoid the red sea of standard products. Honeycomb Energy, for example, focuses on energy storage projects in Europe, Southeast Asia and other overseas markets, and is stepping up efforts in the AIDC (data center energy storage) field, which requires batteries with high-rate charging and discharging capacity of up to 6C. Industry insiders noted that the demand for energy storage batteries remains strong, and some battery enterprises are operating at full capacity, with orders scheduled until the third quarter of this year.
In addition, the rise of high-compaction lithium iron phosphate materials has become another highlight of the industry. Data shows that the monthly average price of energy storage-type lithium iron phosphate cathode materials has more than doubled from May 2025 to May 2026, and many enterprises are operating at full capacity. Industry experts predict that high-compaction materials for scenarios such as 800V fast charging and high-end energy storage will remain in short supply until 2028 due to high technical barriers.
As the global energy transition accelerates, the battery industry is entering a period of accelerated technological iteration. Green low-carbon, intelligence and globalization have become the core development directions. With more pragmatic strategic vision and precise scenario definition, Chinese battery enterprises are releasing signals of high-quality development to the world in the industrial long-distance race spanning the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.