YIBIN, September 3 — The 2026 World Power Battery Conference, widely regarded as the annual “World Cup” of the power battery industry, opened in Yibin on September 3, drawing guests from around the world for exchanges, mutual learning and shared discussion of the industry’s future. This is the fifth consecutive year that the first city on the Yangtze River has hosted the globally influential power battery event. Spain is the guest country of honor at this year’s conference.
For football fans, Spain remains fresh in memory after winning the recently concluded World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, with a tightly organized overall strategy and fluent passing and control. The coincidence is notable: Yibin, known as China’s power battery capital, has also demonstrated distinctive competitiveness in the intense global power battery race through a mature “formation” that emphasizes efficient coordination across the upstream and downstream power battery industrial chain.
Just as Spanish football does not rely on individual brilliance but on linked passing, movement and integrated attack and defense across the entire line, Yibin’s power battery industry rejects isolated breakthroughs and insists on full-chain deployment. In the first half of 2026, the added value of Yibin’s power battery industry grew by 37.8 percent year on year. Against the backdrop of intensifying competition, the city is seeking a breakthrough through coordinated development of the entire chain: from the foundation of upstream materials, through midstream manufacturing and safety, to diverse downstream application scenarios, each link is connected and empowers the others, creating a systemic development path that is difficult to replicate simply.
The power battery industry in Yibin can be understood through the logic of a championship football formation. Its defense is built on raw materials and components. Its midfield is driven by research and manufacturing. Its forward line is opened up by application scenarios. Its goalkeeper is the safety system that guards the final line. And its coach is the local planning and strategic deployment that has set a clear tactical board for the power battery industry. Together, these elements form a complete and coherent power battery ecosystem.
1. A Full-Chain Power Battery Formation Built for Systemic Competition
The strength of a football team is not determined by one position alone, but by how the entire formation moves together. The same is true of the power battery industry. A single project, a single plant or a single technology route may produce short-term momentum, but it cannot sustain long-term competitiveness without a complete industrial chain. Yibin’s approach to the power battery industry reflects this understanding. The city has worked to build a full-chain formation in which upstream materials, midstream manufacturing, downstream applications and safety verification are not isolated segments but interconnected parts of one system.
This power battery formation is designed to withstand pressure at every stage. Raw materials and components form the rear guard. Research and manufacturing form the midfield hub. Application scenarios form the attacking line. Safety testing and verification form the goalkeeper. Strategic planning and policy coordination form the coach’s tactical board. The result is a power battery ecosystem that can coordinate across links, respond to market changes and continue to upgrade as competition intensifies.
Yibin’s power battery industry has moved beyond a simple concentration of production capacity. It has developed a chain-based logic in which each part of the formation supports the others. The upstream power battery material base provides stability. The midstream power battery manufacturing and innovation system provides scale and technological direction. The downstream power battery application scenarios provide real-market feedback. The power battery safety system provides the final guarantee. This is the essence of Yibin’s “championship formation” in the power battery sector.
| Formation role | Power battery focus | Main entities or initiatives | Contribution to the power battery ecosystem |
|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | Raw materials and components | Lithium hydroxide, lithium iron phosphate, cathode, anode, separator, electrolyte and precision structural parts | Stabilizes the foundation of the power battery chain and supports local coordination |
| Midfield | Research and manufacturing | Sichuan Times, Ouyang Minggao workstation, Chen Jun team, solid-state battery research platforms | Drives power battery scale, technology upgrading and next-generation battery positioning |
| Forward | Application scenarios | Electric Yibin, electric heavy trucks, electric ships, low-altitude aircraft, Kaiyi and Chery cooperation | Converts power battery technology and manufacturing strength into market momentum |
| Goalkeeper | Safety verification | Saike Testing, Yibin Chuangneng Testing and related safety platforms | Guards the final line of power battery safety from materials to systems |
| Coach | Strategic planning | Local government planning, chain strengthening, technology攻坚 and scenario expansion | Sets the tactical direction for the power battery industry and the long-term goal |
The table above illustrates how Yibin’s power battery development is organized like a football formation. Each role has a clear function, but the roles are meaningful only when they operate together. The defense provides stability for the power battery chain. The midfield connects research, manufacturing and scale. The forward line creates demand and market feedback. The goalkeeper protects safety. The coach coordinates the overall power battery strategy. This combination is central to Yibin’s ability to compete in the global power battery industry.
2. Defense: Raw Materials and Components Cement the Power Battery Foundation
The stability of the back line determines how far a team can go. For the power battery industry, raw materials and components are that steel defense. Without a stable supply of key materials and locally coordinated components, the power battery chain cannot maintain cost control, quality consistency or production security. Yibin has therefore placed strong emphasis on building a complete supporting system for the power battery industry.
Yibin has established a complete supporting system that ranges from basic raw materials such as lithium hydroxide and lithium iron phosphate to key categories including cathode and anode materials, separators, electrolytes and precision structural parts. This power battery material and component system is not a random collection of projects. It is a coordinated defense line that covers multiple critical links of the power battery chain.
Yibin Libao focuses on cathode materials. Tianyuan Lithium is positioned in lithium iron phosphate. BTR is developing anode materials. Sinoma Lithium Film fills a key link in separators. Kunlun New Energy’s electrolyte project has achieved full production and has obtained zero-carbon factory certification. Kedali is deeply engaged in precision structural parts. The local supporting rate for structural parts has exceeded 90 percent, and the level of coordination within the power battery industrial chain has reached a “close-eye passing” standard, meaning that the links are highly synchronized and mutually responsive.
These “defenders” each perform their own duties and make the defense line dense and stable. A complete supporting system is essential because the power battery industry cannot afford to “drop the chain” at a critical moment. If one key material or component is missing, the entire power battery production system may face delays, cost increases or quality risks. By building a comprehensive local power battery supply system, Yibin strengthens the foundation for the entire formation.
| Power battery link | Representative entity or project | Role in the power battery defense line |
|---|---|---|
| Cathode materials | Yibin Libao | Provides a key material link for power battery cells |
| Lithium iron phosphate | Tianyuan Lithium | Strengthens the power battery material foundation |
| Anode materials | BTR | Supports power battery performance and supply stability |
| Separators | Sinoma Lithium Film | Fills a critical power battery component link |
| Electrolyte | Kunlun New Energy | Full production achieved and zero-carbon factory certification obtained |
| Precision structural parts | Kedali | Local supporting rate for structural parts exceeds 90 percent |
The power battery defense line in Yibin is therefore not merely a list of material projects. It is a coordinated system in which each link contributes to the stability of the whole. The local supporting rate for precision structural parts, which exceeds 90 percent, illustrates the depth of this coordination. The full production of the Kunlun New Energy electrolyte project and its zero-carbon factory certification add further strength to the power battery material system. These capabilities help Yibin maintain continuity across the power battery chain and reduce the risk of external shocks.
For the power battery industry, the defense line also matters because competition is no longer confined to a single product or a single factory. Competition now involves the entire power battery supply chain, including material security, component quality, cost efficiency and coordinated delivery. Yibin’s defense line is designed to meet this broader form of competition. By gathering key power battery material and component capabilities in one region, the city improves the overall responsiveness of its power battery formation.
3. Midfield: Research and Manufacturing Form the Power Battery Dual-Core Hub
The midfield is the hub of attack and defense, and it is also the key link that determines the level of an industrial system. In Yibin’s power battery industry, the midfield is driven by a dual core of research and manufacturing. This dual-core structure allows the power battery industry to combine scale with technological direction and to connect the upstream defense line with the downstream application line.
Sichuan Times, a subsidiary of CATL, is undoubtedly the midfield core of Yibin’s lithium battery industry. Since the first phase of the project was put into operation in June 2021, Sichuan Times’ capacity has risen from 8.8 GWh to 175.9 GWh in 2025. In 2024, Sichuan Times’ power battery sales reached 128.3 GWh, generating an output value of RMB 86.6 billion and driving employment for 18,000 people. Yibin has thus become the world’s largest single power battery production base, and one in every 10 power batteries globally comes from Yibin.
Around this “chain leader,” Yibin has landed hundreds of industrial projects with total investment exceeding RMB 350 billion. The city has built a green closed-loop full industrial chain covering materials, cells and recycling. In 2025, the scale of the city’s full power battery industrial chain reached RMB 124.5 billion. This is the midfield core that links the entire team. It provides scale, attracts supporting projects and creates a platform for further technological upgrading in the power battery sector.
Yibin is not only focused on manufacturing. In 2020, Ouyang Minggao, an academician who has worked for decades in the field of new energy vehicle power systems, anchored his only academician workstation in Yibin. By 2026, the building located in the Yibin Science and Technology Innovation Center had already extended outward to a solid-state battery innovation industrial park and had incubated 23 technology startups carrying core technologies.
Relying on seven solid-state battery research and development platforms, including the Ouyang Minggao workstation and the Chen Jun team, Yibin is focusing on core technologies such as solid electrolytes, new anodes and high-safety cells. Semi-solid batteries have already achieved pilot production, and Saike Power’s all-solid-state battery pilot line is planned to be completed by the end of this year. The Sichuan Provincial Lithium Battery Key Materials and Battery System Pilot Research and Development Platform has landed in Yibin, achieving a zero breakthrough for provincial-level lithium battery pilot platforms.
These research platforms perform the work of the midfield: they control the technological direction, output core ideas and provide the “tactical starting point” for the entire team. With this midfield system, Yibin can position itself early in the next-generation power battery race. This is precisely Yibin’s most difficult-to-replicate core competitiveness. It is not simply a matter of introducing one leading enterprise, but of truly integrating research and innovation with industrial manufacturing into an organic whole.
| Power battery indicator | Figure | Period or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Yibin power battery industry added value growth | 37.8 percent | First half of 2026 |
| Full power battery industrial chain scale | RMB 124.5 billion | 2025 |
| Sichuan Times power battery capacity | 175.9 GWh | 2025 |
| Sichuan Times power battery sales | 128.3 GWh | 2024 |
| Sichuan Times output value | RMB 86.6 billion | 2024 |
| Employment driven by Sichuan Times | 18,000 people | 2024 |
| Global share of power batteries from Yibin | 1 in every 10 | Current reported scale |
| Total investment in landed power battery projects | More than RMB 350 billion | Cumulative |
| Incubated technology startups | 23 | By 2026 |
| Solid-state battery research and development platforms | 7 | Current |
The power battery midfield in Yibin is therefore both a manufacturing hub and an innovation hub. Manufacturing provides the scale needed for the power battery industry to serve global markets. Research provides the direction needed for the power battery industry to move into next-generation technologies. When these two cores operate together, the power battery formation becomes more balanced. The defense line has a strong customer and coordination center. The forward line has a source of advanced technology and reliable products. The goalkeeper has a system to test and verify. The coach has a platform for long-term planning.
This dual-core structure also explains why Yibin’s power battery development is not limited to capacity expansion. The city is building a power battery innovation system that can support solid-state batteries, high-safety cells and new materials. The combination of Sichuan Times’ manufacturing scale and the research platforms’ technological focus creates a bridge between laboratory results and industrial application. For the power battery industry, this bridge is essential because next-generation competition will depend not only on who can produce more, but also on who can industrialize new technologies faster and more reliably.
4. Forward: Real Application Scenarios Turn Power Battery Strength into Market Wins
The value of the forward line lies in scoring goals. For an industry, the forward line lies in converting technological and manufacturing advantages into market success. Yibin is advancing the “Electric Yibin” initiative and, on the basis of popularizing new energy passenger vehicles, actively expanding emerging application tracks such as electric heavy trucks, electric ships and low-altitude aircraft. These application scenarios give the power battery industry real demand and real feedback.
Yibin is working with Chery to advance intelligent connected technology research and development for Kaiyi Auto. The city has been approved as Sichuan’s only heavy-truck-featured new energy vehicle battery-swapping application pilot city. This status is significant for the power battery industry because heavy trucks represent a demanding application scenario with high requirements for battery performance, swapping efficiency and operational reliability. By opening this track, Yibin gives its power battery industry a new forward line.
By the end of 2025, Yibin had built 131 charging stations and 10 heavy truck battery-swapping stations. The city had cumulatively promoted 300 electric heavy trucks, 1,035 electric ride-hailing vehicles and 180 electric taxis. In Sanjiang New Area, newly added ride-hailing vehicles and cruise taxis have achieved 100 percent electrification. These developments show how the power battery industry is being connected to real urban mobility and commercial transport scenarios.
| Power battery application item | Cumulative figure by the end of 2025 |
|---|---|
| Charging stations | 131 |
| Heavy truck battery-swapping stations | 10 |
| Electric heavy trucks | 300 |
| Electric ride-hailing vehicles | 1,035 |
| Electric taxis | 180 |
| Newly added ride-hailing and cruise taxis in Sanjiang New Area | 100 percent electrified |
More importantly, the forward line’s movement is extending into the depths of the real market. Industry research shows that in 2026, the range anxiety of most new energy vehicle owners has been significantly eased, and “good enough is enough” has become a new consumption orientation. Users are paying more attention to the overall experience of using a vehicle. This change is pushing the power battery industry from competing on parameters to competing on experience.
Yibin’s approach is to use real application scenarios to force technological iteration and to use market orders to feed back into industrial upgrading. The performance of electric heavy trucks under complex road conditions, the safety data of electric ships in high-humidity environments, and the extreme requirements of low-altitude aircraft for energy density and lightweight design — these real demands all become “coaching instructions” for the evolution of Yibin’s power battery technology.
This forward-line strategy is closely connected to the rest of the power battery formation. Real scenarios reveal where the power battery system needs improvement. They provide concrete requirements for the midfield research and manufacturing system. They test whether the defense line of materials and components can meet demanding operating conditions. They also create new challenges for the goalkeeper safety system. In this sense, the forward line is not the end of the chain but a source of pressure and direction for the entire power battery formation.
The power battery industry in Yibin is therefore not waiting for demand to appear in a single market. It is opening multiple application channels. Passenger vehicles, heavy trucks, ships and low-altitude aircraft each represent different requirements for power battery energy density, safety, cycle life and environmental adaptability. By engaging with these diverse scenarios, Yibin’s power battery industry can accumulate experience across a wider range of operating conditions. This experience can then be fed back into product development and system optimization.
5. Goalkeeper: Safety Remains the Last Line of Defense for the Power Battery Industry
The goalkeeper is the team’s last line of defense. For the power battery industry, safety is the line that cannot be crossed. As the scale of the power battery industry expands at high speed, Yibin’s power battery safety “goalkeeper” has remained vigilant. The city has built a safety verification system that covers materials, cells, modules and systems, ensuring that the power battery formation has a strong final guard.
Saike Testing, incubated by the Ouyang Minggao workstation, has built China’s first “battery general hospital.” Its asset scale exceeds RMB 1 billion. It is equipped with 15,000 electrical performance test channels and 15,000 storage test channels, covering electrical performance test scenarios such as long-cycle testing, short-cycle testing and calendar life. It is not only a “health check” but also a “diagnosis” system. From battery modules to system-level safety verification, it comprehensively carries out high-difficulty tests such as reliability testing, thermal runaway testing and bottom impact testing.
Just as an excellent goalkeeper not only makes saves but also directs the entire defense, Saike Testing undertakes public technical service functions for the Key Laboratory of Energy Storage and Power Battery Safety of the State Administration for Market Regulation. CATL’s Yibin Chuangneng Testing Company is also located in the city. Multiple forces together form Yibin’s power battery safety “goalkeeper” system, firmly guarding every safety gate from materials to systems.
This safety system is an integral part of the power battery formation. The defense line provides materials and components, but those materials and components must be verified under demanding conditions. The midfield provides manufacturing scale and technological innovation, but new power battery technologies must be tested for reliability and safety. The forward line opens new application scenarios, but those scenarios create new safety challenges. The goalkeeper system provides the final verification and protection that allows the entire power battery team to move forward with confidence.
In the power battery industry, safety is not a secondary issue to be addressed after scale expansion. It is a foundational condition for sustainable development. Yibin’s power battery safety system reflects this understanding. By combining testing capacity, diagnostic capability and public technical service functions, the city has built a goalkeeper system that can support the entire power battery chain. This system helps ensure that the power battery industry can expand while maintaining high safety standards.
6. Coach: The Tactical Board Sets a RMB 300 Billion Power Battery Goal
Any excellent team needs an excellent coach. For Yibin’s power battery industry to stand out in a fiercely competitive field, it also needs the planning and deployment of the local government as the “coach.” From the beginning of the power battery industry layout, Yibin’s tactical thinking has been clear and unified.
From an output value of less than RMB 2 billion in 2020 to more than RMB 101.3 billion in 2023 and RMB 124.5 billion in 2025, Yibin’s power battery industry completed a leap from a “zero foundation” to the “hundred-billion level” in five years. Looking toward the 15th Five-Year Plan period, a new goal has been set: the total output value of the full power battery industrial chain should exceed RMB 300 billion.
Around this goal, Yibin will simultaneously advance tactics in three areas: building the circle and strengthening the chain, technological攻坚 and scenario expansion. The city will accelerate the construction of major projects such as Sichuan Times Phase 4 and Phase 10, make forward-looking arrangements in next-generation tracks such as solid-state batteries and sodium-ion batteries, support platforms such as Saike Testing in their push toward national-level innovation platforms, and continuously improve the power battery industrial ecosystem.
| Power battery development stage | Output value or target | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Less than RMB 2 billion | 2020 |
| Breakthrough | More than RMB 101.3 billion | 2023 |
| Current full-chain scale | RMB 124.5 billion | 2025 |
| Future full-chain target | More than RMB 300 billion | 15th Five-Year Plan period |
The coach’s tactical board is not limited to output value targets. It also includes the coordination of the entire power battery formation. Building the circle and strengthening the chain means improving the connections among upstream materials, midstream manufacturing and downstream applications. Technological攻坚 means focusing on core technologies that determine the next stage of power battery development. Scenario expansion means opening new markets and new application conditions that can drive further innovation. These tactics are designed to keep the power battery formation balanced and competitive.
Yibin’s power battery planning also reflects continuity. The city has maintained a clear direction from the initial layout of the power battery industry to the current goal of a RMB 300 billion full-chain scale. This continuity gives enterprises confidence and provides a stable environment for long-term investment. It also allows the power battery formation to evolve without losing its overall structure. The coach’s tactical board thus serves as a coordinating mechanism for the entire power battery ecosystem.
7. Global Power Battery Competition Has No Final Whistle
As the 2026 World Power Battery Conference opens in Yibin, this edition of the power battery “World Cup,” which brings together top global industry, academic and research forces, will provide new tactical inspiration for Yibin and for China’s power battery industry. The conference is not only a stage for displaying achievements but also a platform for exchange and mutual learning. For the power battery industry, such exchanges are essential because technology, markets and safety requirements continue to evolve.
The power battery competition has no final whistle. Yibin’s “championship formation” for industrial development will continue to be refined through exchanges and mutual learning, with tactics improved and shortcomings addressed. The city will continue to consolidate its full-chain competitive advantage and generate momentum for the new energy industry. The expectation is that the power battery “championship formation” of the first city on the Yangtze River will play even more exciting matches on the world stage.
From the defense line of raw materials and components to the midfield of research and manufacturing, from the forward line of application scenarios to the goalkeeper of safety verification, and from the coach’s tactical board to the global platform of the World Power Battery Conference, Yibin’s power battery story is a story of systemic coordination. It shows that the power battery industry is not only about producing cells. It is about building a complete formation in which materials, manufacturing, innovation, applications and safety move together. In the global power battery race, this formation is Yibin’s most distinctive advantage and its most important source of confidence.