China’s battery industry is set to shift from expanding scale to leading in technology over the next five years, according to a national plan released on September 28. The “15th Five Year Plan for the Development of the New Battery Industry” was issued jointly by seven government bodies, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The plan defines new batteries as high performance devices or systems for storing and converting electricity, built on new mechanisms, materials, structures and processes. Lithium, sodium and flow batteries are the main examples.
By 2030, China aims for steady growth in industry scale and new breakthroughs in electrode materials, new electrolytes and high end auxiliary materials. All solid state batteries are expected to see early large scale use, long life lithium batteries should reach 15,000 charge cycles, and leading companies should cut defect rates to the PPB level, meaning only a few faulty products per billion.
The plan also calls for wider use of batteries in cars, ships, aircraft, intelligent robots, construction machinery and farm equipment. Energy storage batteries will expand into power generation, grids, industrial parks and data centers. In addition, China will step up international trade and investment cooperation across the battery supply chain.
To reach these goals, the plan focuses on five areas: faster innovation across the whole industrial chain, industrial upgrading, a stronger industrial system, better technology services, and higher quality trade and investment cooperation. It sets out 19 key tasks and 5 special programs.
The core task is innovation across the entire battery chain. Specific steps include speeding up the commercialization of solid state batteries, developing advanced materials and high end manufacturing equipment, using artificial intelligence, widening energy storage uses and improving recycling.
Liu Wenqing, Party Secretary of the China Academy of Electronics and Information Industry Development, said batteries were long seen mainly as components. They are now treated as a pillar of the new energy system, and as a base for emerging sectors such as energy storage, the low altitude economy and intelligent robots.
He said China has built an edge, but leading in scale does not mean leading in technology for the long term. As the industry nears the global frontier, fewer proven paths remain to follow. The strategy must therefore move from adding capacity to independent innovation across the supply chain and setting the technology direction.
The plan describes the battery industry as an ecosystem of production, recycling, applications and services, with digitalization, green development and integration as its core directions.
