Sodium-ion batteries target a hundred-billion-yuan market; AI-driven intelligent manufacturing determines the future of batteries
In 2026, EVE Energy is undergoing a new round of business transformation.
On one hand, large cylindrical power batteries and large prismatic energy storage batteries have entered the phase of scaled delivery, supporting the company's march toward its goal of CNY 100 billion in revenue;
On the other hand, solid-state batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and new power systems for the AI era are becoming new directions for EVE Energy to seek its next wave of growth.
Following a new product launch event held in Chengdu, Gaogong Lithium conducted a dialogue with Dr. Liu Jincheng, Chairman of EVE Energy.
From why solid-state batteries first target brain-computer interfaces, to how sodium-ion batteries compete with lead-acid batteries, to AI manufacturing, globalization, and growth strategies for the next decade, Liu Jincheng shared his insights.
The following is an edited transcript of the dialogue.
Gaogong Lithium: In the first half of this year, EVE Energy achieved approximately CNY 46.5 billion in revenue, bringing the annual CNY 100 billion revenue target within reach.
The large cylindrical and large prismatic batteries that were the focus of layout in recent years are now delivering at scale, while new technologies such as solid-state and sodium-ion batteries are accelerating. How do you view EVE Energy's current stage of development?
Liu Jincheng: The CNY 100 billion revenue target should be achievable.
Based on electrochemical theory, we judged that large cylindrical and large prismatic batteries are the main development directions for future power and energy storage batteries. We proposed this judgment around 2022 and have been putting it into practice ever since.
Now, large cylindrical batteries have gained significant market recognition alongside industry-leading enterprises.
For example, a vehicle model equipped with our cells achieves a range of 1,213 kilometers. I believe large cylindrical cells will continue to be a key direction for passenger vehicle batteries, with their market share increasing steadily.
In terms of energy storage, we are firmly developing large prismatic cells, and the product has upgraded to 702Ah cells. This helps significantly reduce the structural cost of energy storage systems and has also gained market recognition.
At this juncture, we need to discuss what steps to take next.
We believe that in new battery systems and new technical directions, revolving around people's lives, technological progress, and the development of AI—especially in the development of AI medical devices—technology safeguards life and health. This is the most important responsibility of science and technology.
If this responsibility can be fully realized, whether from the perspective of industry development, technological advancement, or value creation, the outlook will be increasingly positive. This is what we are willing to do and are currently doing.
Gaogong Lithium: EVE Energy proposes to become the "energy foundation for all scenarios in the AI era." Beyond the two major markets of power and energy storage, which emerging fields do you think will generate demand?
Liu Jincheng: We have been discussing battery safety issues in data centers for several years. There may be three scenarios in the future: one where a battery fire ignites other equipment; one where other equipment catches fire and the battery follows suit; and one where other equipment catches fire but the battery does not burn.
I once stated that whoever truly creates a non-flammable battery deserves a Nobel Prize. This is a highly meaningful technical challenge for the battery industry.
Meanwhile, AI data centers have extremely high power requirements for electricity supply. For instance, transferring and storing large amounts of data in a short time requires high-power supply. Data centers also face issues of power supply stability and insufficiency.
These demands collectively drive the development of new power systems. We are laying out comprehensive solutions for AIDC (AI Data Centers) and plan to showcase them together at an exhibition in the United States in November.
Gaogong Lithium: Why has EVE Energy chosen medical scenarios such as brain-computer interfaces as a key development direction for solid-state batteries?
Liu Jincheng: I believe that a highly valuable application direction for AI technology is helping those who genuinely require technical intervention. For example, patients with neurological disorders can benefit from implantable brain-computer interfaces.
Such devices have extremely high requirements for battery safety and reliability. Liquid batteries pose risks of electrolyte leakage, whereas we believe solid-state batteries have advantages in this regard and are therefore very suitable for implantable medical devices.
We have previously conducted lifespan verification for implantable batteries by placing them in a constant-temperature oven at 37°C for continuous testing over three years. Only through such verification can they preliminarily meet usage requirements.
The human body environment remains around 37°C long-term, which constitutes a relatively high operating temperature for batteries. Solid-state batteries exhibit better operating characteristics in this environment and can achieve higher energy density within limited space.
Beyond medical devices, we are also considering high-temperature application scenarios such as oil drilling equipment, where some devices operate at temperatures exceeding 100°C.
The key lies in the fact that solid-state batteries must find suitable real-world application scenarios and continuously upgrade processes and quality during actual mass production.
Only then can their applications expand gradually; otherwise, they remain merely laboratory technologies.
Gaogong Lithium: EVE Energy launched new sodium-ion products this time, initially targeting the light vehicle market. Why choose two-wheelers as the entry point? Do you think sodium-ion batteries have reached the inflection point for scaled adoption?
Liu Jincheng: Our consistent philosophy is that batteries must find scenarios where they are truly needed and can solve practical problems; only then do products have vitality.
Sodium-ion batteries possess unique advantages in two-wheelers.
Firstly, lead-acid batteries are limited by factors such as cycle performance and often require replacement during use. If batteries can be permanently fixed to vehicles in the future, it would be beneficial for both consumers and regulators.
Secondly, long-term storage is a practical issue for two-wheelers. Some batteries may experience capacity degradation due to over-discharge after the vehicle has been parked for three months or half a year, rendering them unable to recharge.
Sodium-ion batteries have advantages in recovery capability after long-term storage. Based on our assessment, even after being left unused for a year, there is still an opportunity to recover functionality upon recharging.
If integrated vehicle-battery design can be achieved, there is an opportunity to fundamentally improve the convenience, safety, and regulatory compliance of two-wheeler usage.
We began intervening in this matter after the electric vehicle fire accident in Nanjing. As a company that has long studied electrochemical batteries, we have a responsibility to utilize our technical capabilities to address the societal issues caused by low-quality batteries.
Gaogong Lithium: Two-wheelers are a highly cost-sensitive market. Why did EVE Energy choose the pouch sodium-ion route this time? How do you compete with lead-acid batteries?
Liu Jincheng: A significant advantage of pouch cells is their low structural component cost. Compared to aluminum-shell cells, they save on structural investments and lower overall costs through system design.
With the pouch cell system solution we currently employ, we have already had the opportunity to make the total cost of sodium-ion battery packs comparable to that of lead-acid battery packs.
This is crucial. Only when prices are acceptable to the market can products be truly promoted.
We also repurposed the production line originally used for Mercedes-Benz power battery packs to create a pilot line for two-wheeler batteries. We hope to apply automotive-grade battery manufacturing capabilities to the two-wheeler market to provide more reliable products.
Gaogong Lithium: How do you judge the development speed of the sodium-ion battery market in the next one to two years? What market space can two-wheelers bring to sodium-ion batteries?
Liu Jincheng: From laboratory verification results, sodium-ion batteries are very suitable for two-wheelers and also for certain energy storage scenarios with less stringent volume requirements.
We are also exploring a direction: whether large-scale energy storage systems can reduce or even eliminate parts of the thermal management system. Current laboratory verifications suggest technical feasibility.
Regarding two-wheelers, I judge that after one to two years of actual usage verification and the formation of complete data sets, there is an opportunity to spawn a hundred-billion-yuan market.
Moreover, our considerations extend beyond the Chinese market.
For example, Indonesia has a massive scale of electric two-wheelers and motorcycles. According to our estimates, the related market requires nearly 40GWh of batteries annually.
As long as the safety, cost, and reliability of products can be fully verified through actual usage data, I believe the scale of the entire two-wheeler sodium-ion battery market has the potential to exceed CNY 100 billion.
Gaogong Lithium: After the acceleration of sodium-ion commercialization, how do you view the relationship between lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries in the energy storage market in the future? What share can sodium-ion batteries ultimately capture?
Liu Jincheng: The energy storage market has many different application scenarios, each with distinct technical needs.
In the long run, lithium-ion batteries will still occupy more than 70% of the market share, sodium-ion batteries have the opportunity to gain around 20%, and other technology routes will retain a certain amount of market space.
Different technologies have their own suitable application scenarios. We will prepare corresponding technical and product solutions around these directions.
Gaogong Lithium: Based on your past experience in making lithium-ion batteries, what challenges do sodium-ion batteries still face in the manufacturing process?
Liu Jincheng: Manufacturing capability is not just a skill; it is also a form of cognition and vision.
Leading enterprises like us, who specialize in vehicle power batteries, have established a full-process controlled manufacturing system.
Now, for sodium-ion batteries, we also produce them on the same platform. For example, the pilot line for two-wheeler sodium-ion batteries utilizes relevant manufacturing capabilities from the Mercedes-Benz power battery production line.
Equipment capabilities, monitoring capabilities, CCD inspection, process control, and dust management all need to be executed according to automotive-grade standards.
We aim to establish a high-level manufacturing system from the outset, reducing the cost of repeatedly solving fundamental issues in the manufacturing process, so that we can provide truly high-quality products to the market.
Gaogong Lithium: As battery products become increasingly diversified, needing to meet demands from various scenarios while achieving ultra-large-scale production, should we redefine the value of battery manufacturing?
Liu Jincheng: Researching and designing a good battery well is a different concept from actually manufacturing it well.
Making a small number of high-performance batteries cannot be equated with continuously producing tens of thousands, or even hundreds of millions, of stable-quality batteries.
Some of our battery varieties have an annual output approaching 2 billion units. At such scale, traditional PPM-level quality management standards are no longer sufficient to represent the level we pursue.
I remember in the early days of entrepreneurship, when we exported batteries, customers would buy only 1,000 units at a time. Later, we discovered that customers treated them as samples, storing them in warehouses for verification and testing them again a year later.
Only when customers progressed from buying 1,000 units to 2,000, then 5,000, and continued purchasing, did it signify a true breakthrough in the market.
It was only later that we understood that the manufacturing process is the key determinant of whether a battery company succeeds.
In the early days, when we had funds of CNY1 million, we invested all of it in test batteries for extensive verification. For startups, this kind of verification of manufacturing and product reliability is mandatory.
Therefore, I believe manufacturing itself should be termed "manufacturing technology." The information, data, and technical complexity involved may be dozens or even hundreds of times greater than that of the battery design process.
Gaogong Lithium: When battery manufacturing reaches the scale of billions of units, what substantive changes is AI bringing to the manufacturing system? How do you understand the significance of AI manufacturing?
Liu Jincheng: When production volumes reach a certain magnitude, traditional statistical analysis and manual inspection methods can no longer meet the requirements.
For example, we need to inspect every single battery and retain image samples from the production process. Battery internal structures generate CCD inspection images at different manufacturing stages, resulting in enormous data volumes.
Manual check-by-check inspection is impossible. We must leverage AI technology to assist in identification, judgment, and quality control during the manufacturing process.
We are currently also developing large models for image recognition.
I believe that ultra-large-scale battery manufacturing systems are essentially the result of AI applications. They differ significantly from traditional aircraft and automobile manufacturing.
Aircraft and automobiles primarily belong to mechanical manufacturing, whereas batteries involve converting chemicals into energy products. This process is more complex, involving numerous continuously changing process parameters.
We hope to utilize AI, large models, and massive manufacturing data to continuously improve product quality, moving from PPB-level targets toward higher PPT-level quality goals.
Thus, modern manufacturing is no longer manufacturing in the traditional sense, but rather a high-level intelligent manufacturing technology. The core of this intelligent manufacturing technology is AI.
Gaogong Lithium: Currently, the global NEV market is undergoing structural changes, with the importance of overseas demand rising. How does EVE Energy understand globalization? What role will overseas manufacturing play in the company's future strategy?
Liu Jincheng: When a company possesses industry-leading products and solutions that truly solve problems, it should provide these technologies and products to the global market.
We have previously expressed our hope to use PV plus energy storage technology to illuminate the skies of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan. This is also the value that Chinese technology, Chinese products, and Chinese engineers can create.
Therefore, we have established joint ventures in the United States, laid out factories in Malaysia and Europe, and are currently working with partners to build battery production capacity for the two-wheeler market in Indonesia.
However, going global requires adapting to the differing requirements of consumers, governments, and environmental managers in different regions.
Global service and global manufacturing are imperatives.
Moreover, expanding overseas cannot be viewed solely as a business transaction. If one only thinks about doing business, it might fail instead.
You must first bring valuable products and valuable factories to the local area, gaining recognition from local society and relevant resources.
Only after doing these things well can you become a truly profitable company, and overseas operations can transform into a sustainable business.
Gaogong Lithium: Looking ahead five to ten years, beyond power and energy storage businesses, what changes do you foresee in EVE Energy's next growth engines?
Liu Jincheng: We categorize future business development into three parts.
The first category is consumer and industrial batteries. Based on existing market positions and customer trust, this segment will continue to grow, albeit with a relatively flat growth curve.
The second category is power batteries and energy storage batteries. As new technologies gain market recognition, these two segments will enter a phase of rapid growth.
The third category consists of smart battery technologies for the next five to ten years, which we are currently preparing. We expect this segment to begin showing rapid growth in three to five years.
These are the three core components of EVE Energy's future strategy.
I believe that in the next ten or even fifteen years, EVE Energy will remain a company growing steadily, achieving rapid growth in certain phases.