The battery industry is never short of new stories. Accelerated flow batteries, mass production of sodium-ion batteries, breakthroughs in solid-state batteries... every track boasts strong players. However, reaching this juncture in 2026, an increasingly clear judgment is emerging: energy storage has become a highly market-oriented carrier of scenario value. The scenario differences are so significant that no single battery technology route can dominate the entire market. Lithium-ion batteries hold the main position, while multiple technology routes such as sodium-ion, solid-state, and flow batteries have kicked off a commercialization race.
Under the multi-technology dynamics, how can lead-acid battery enterprises successfully transform and recreate a second growth curve in new fields? Tianneng Battery Group Co., Ltd. (688819.SH), the "leader in lead-acid batteries for electric two-wheelers," provides an observation sample: instead of betting everything on a single route, it simultaneously bets on multiple technology routes including "lead, lithium, hydrogen, sodium, and solid-state," and then heavily invests in the most certain tracks. How solid is this report card, and which track holds the winning move in the multi-line layout, is worth dissecting.
Multi-Technology Route Layout Is Just the Beginning
In terms of transformation routes, lead-acid battery enterprises are currently shifting collectively to multiple technology routes such as lithium and sodium. Why is this? Taking Tianneng as an example, this is not a simple trend-following, but an inevitable choice intertwined with national policies, market logic, survival pressure, and its own endowments.
First, policy synergy opens up space. Currently, the global energy transition is pushing batteries from transportation tools to the infrastructure of the power system, making energy storage the main arena for battery value re-evaluation. The "15th Five-Year Plan for the Construction of New Power Systems" requires the scale of new energy storage to reach 300 million kilowatts by 2030. The space is far from saturated, and all technology routes have opportunities to enter. A more direct signal comes from the adjustment of consumption tax—lithium-ion batteries are taxed at 2%, while sodium-ion, solid-state, and fuel cells are exempt until the end of 2028. The differentiated policy of "taxing lithium-ion and exempting emerging technologies" provides lead-acid enterprises with clear dividends for transformation. Tianneng's multi-technology system of "lead, lithium, hydrogen, sodium, and solid-state" is precisely a response to this trend.
As early as 2020, Tianneng anchored its strategy to the national dual-carbon goals and built a diversified battery technology system of "lead, lithium, hydrogen, sodium, and solid-state." Products include "Tianna T2" for light power, "Sodium Storage No. 1" and "Panshi" semi-solid series for energy storage, while hydrogen energy products continue to be explored in transportation, energy storage, and distributed energy fields. When policy dividends are realized, Tianneng does not need to catch up temporarily and directly enters the volume expansion rhythm. Second, scenario differentiation activates the market. In 2026, energy storage application scenarios are accelerating in differentiation, and the demand for battery technology routes is becoming increasingly diversified.
Multiple technology routes are not about dispersion, but scenario-based capabilities—filtering out real needs in different scenarios, judging which route corresponds to which type of customer, in what cost range it is competitive, and when to move from verification to large-scale investment. The value of Tianneng's multi-technology system of "lead, lithium, hydrogen, sodium, and solid-state" lies precisely in the fact that it does not start from a single new technology to find the market, but matches technology routes for different scenarios based on existing customers, manufacturing, and scenario experience. Lead-acid batteries take on advantageous scenarios of maturity, reliability, and closed-loop recycling; lithium-ion batteries serve higher energy density and mature energy storage needs; sodium-ion batteries have the opportunity to form a supplement in fields sensitive to low temperature, high rate, safety, and resource stability; solid-state batteries and hydrogen energy take on forward-looking verification.
Third, endowment support determines success or failure. The layout of multiple technology routes means that investments in R&D, production lines, and channels multiply. Enterprises with weak financial strength and supply chain integration capabilities often fall behind. Tianneng's confidence in deploying five lines simultaneously comes from three endowments:
- First, the three-level R&D architecture of "Headquarters Research Institute + Business Unit Technology Center + Production Base Technology Department" formed by 40 years of technical accumulation, coupled with long-term accumulated experience in large-scale battery manufacturing, quality control, and channel service, helps shorten the distance from R&D to customer verification for new products of the five technology routes;
- Second, leveraging the industrial advantages of the coordinated development of lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries, allowing multiple categories such as energy storage, start-stop, and light power to share a set of industrial chassis, which also accumulates manufacturing and market foundations for the succession of sodium-ion and solid-state batteries;
- Third, Tianneng has built a full-chain competitive barrier from core materials to battery manufacturing, system integration, and recycling. The industrial foundation formed in the field of battery recycling provides synergistic imagination space for the full life cycle management of different chemical systems in the future. Multiple technology routes are just tickets to enter the game; only with a solid foundation and a reusable system can one gain a firm foothold.
Multiple technology routes themselves do not constitute a barrier—there are many enterprises in the industry that deploy three or four lines simultaneously. What truly widens the gap is which line can win.
The Second Growth Curve Enters the Payoff Period
Tianneng's breakthrough point points to the battlefield where it has the highest chance of winning. Combining its 2025 annual report and public actions in the first half of 2026, an underestimated fact is: on the three lines of sodium-ion start-stop, sodium-ion energy storage, and lithium-ion energy storage, Tianneng has moved from "layout" to the stage of "supply/grid connection/overseas contract signing."
For a battery enterprise whose main business is concentrated in light power and energy storage (two scenarios that are not sensitive to energy density but extremely demand cycle life, low-temperature performance, and channel replacement efficiency), this is exactly the positional battle it should win the most. Why is Tianneng more suitable to win the battle of sodium-ion replacing lead-acid batteries?
▍ First, the Policy Window Opens
In July 2026, Announcement No. 20 by the Ministry of Finance and two other departments explicitly exempted sodium-ion batteries from consumption tax, forming a three-tier tax rate gap—lead-acid bears 4%, lithium-ion climbs from 2% to 4%, and sodium-ion is 0%. For a player like Tianneng with "lead-acid replacement + lithium-sodium same shell," with the same set of production lines and the same batch of customers, sodium-ion at 0% and lead-acid at 4%, the policy is almost equivalent to giving away a few percentage points of tax burden for free. This is not a conceptual benefit, but an advantage that can be directly written into quotation sheets and income statements.
For Tianneng, this is not a "conceptual benefit," but perfectly matches the rhythm of the second curve. The industrialization of sodium-ion batteries has significantly accelerated from 2025 to 2026, but route selection is more important than brute force.
Sodium-ion batteries for passenger vehicle power must compete with lithium iron phosphate in cost and energy density, where lead-acid enterprises have no first-mover advantage; however, in scenarios such as start-stop, two-wheeler replacement, and communication and grid-side energy storage, the core demands are wide temperature range, high rate, long cycle, same-size replacement, and no reliance on lithium resources. These are exactly the positive substitution areas of sodium-ion relative to lead-acid, and also the areas where Tianneng's 40-year channel and recycling closed-loop can be directly reused.
▍ Second, Tianneng's Sodium-Ion Batteries Have Taken the Lead in Start-Stop and Energy Storage Scenarios
From a timeline perspective, in 2022, Tianneng established Zhejiang Tianneng Sodium-Ion Battery Technology Co., Ltd., officially entering the sodium-ion track; in 2023, it released sodium-ion batteries; in 2024, products were tested in multiple scenarios such as two-wheelers, energy storage, and communication base station backup power; by 2025, the capacity planning has reached the level of several GWh. The pace is not aggressive, but every step hits the mark. Start-stop is the fastest-running scenario.
Global sodium-ion batteries are almost at the same starting line. In the sub-segment scenario of start-stop batteries, Tianneng, Camel, Chaowei, and Fengfan have all entered the market. Tianneng completed the three steps of release, standard, and supply within 12 months. In August 2025, it released the "Tianna" series 12V start-stop batteries, covering passenger vehicle models such as H5/H6/H7; in October of the same year, as one of the main drafters, it promoted the international standard proposal for "12V Sodium-Ion Batteries for Automobile Start-Stop" to be passed by 17 P member countries; in 2026, two-wheeler sodium-ion products have been launched on a large scale in the market.
The commercial logic of start-stop is not that "sodium-ion is cheaper"—the current cost is still slightly higher than lead-acid—but the inversion of TCO (Total Cost of Ownership): fewer rescue calls in cold regions, lifespan equal to the vehicle, lightweight for fuel saving, and lead-free compliance. Start-stop batteries account for 14% of downstream demand, and sodium-ion start-stop is taking the lead in breaking through from the automotive aftermarket.
Tianneng has 400,000 terminal stores, and the channels can be directly reused. Without waiting for the 3 to 5-year pre-installation certification cycle of OEMs, it can quickly deploy to the market. Energy storage is a scenario with deeper technical depth. Focusing on the needs of small power and energy storage, Tianneng has developed layered oxide sodium-ion soft-pack cells with an energy density of 160Wh/kg, passing safety tests such as nail penetration and thermal abuse; the second-generation polyanionic energy storage cells have an energy density of 105Wh/kg, targeting long-life applications. In April 2026, a 0.5MW/1.2MWh sodium-ion energy storage demonstration project was filed and approved in Changxing—taking sodium-ion from cells to the system level is a rare sample among lead-acid battery enterprises.
▍ Third, Lithium-Ion Energy Storage Paves the Way, and Systematic Capability Serves as the Chassis
Sodium-ion is a future variable, while lithium-ion energy storage is the base where Tianneng can currently recognize revenue, and also the "capability incubator" for sodium-ion energy storage. In 2025, Tianneng's lithium-ion revenue reached 1.571 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 218.36%, with sales of 4.40GWh, a surge of 299.16%; multiple energy storage projects were connected to the grid—the 500MW/2000MWh independent energy storage in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia was connected to the grid, and the 100MW/200MWh in Longgang, Zhejiang was completed. On the communication side, it won ZTE's "S-level supplier" and China Tower projects; in terms of going global, it signed a contract with Poland's ELQ, shipped the first batch of liquid-cooled cabinets for the 2GW energy storage framework in South Africa, and the Vietnam base commenced production.
For Tianneng, sodium-ion bets on relative opportunities—the track is still at the starting stage, but it holds more channels, recycling, and standard discourse power than others. Therefore, the significance of lithium-ion energy storage is not just short-term profitability, but running through system-level PACK, liquid cooling, EMS, overseas certification, and grid connection experience first—so that it can be directly transferred when sodium-ion scales up.
Paving the way for lithium-ion and taking over with sodium-ion—this is the true relationship between the two curves. Supporting this relay is the thickest chassis of systematic capability. If sodium-ion gradually scales up, the key to competition is not how many cells are sold, but whether the complete closed-loop of materials, manufacturing, application, service, and recycling can be run through.
This is exactly where Tianneng's advantages lie: long-term accumulated experience in manufacturing, quality control, and channels shortens the distance from R&D to customer verification for new products; moreover, the industrial foundation and experience formed by Tianneng in the field of battery recycling can be directly reused for sodium-ion. The same capabilities are also extended to zero carbon—Tianneng Tianshu NECO3000 takes "integration of computing and power" as the core architecture, relies on the whole industry chain circular economy system, and builds a full life cycle zero-carbon closed-loop of "generation-storage-distribution-use-recycling," upgrading zero-carbon capabilities from the factory level to system-level solutions.
Expert Insights on Energy Storage: Three Directions of Tianneng Worth Close Attention
The next chapter of the battery industry is not necessarily a substitution game of a single technology over other routes, but a competition of whether enterprises can build adapted technology combinations in different scenarios and take the lead in completing industrial landing. Sodium-ion is opening a new window for the industry.
The industry-wide shipment of sodium-ion batteries was only at the 9GWh level in 2025, and Tianneng is far from reaching GWh-level sodium-ion shipments. This is an unavoidable fact. However, the two major scenarios of light power and energy storage are inherently insensitive to energy density. The substitution of lead-acid batteries by sodium-ion in these two scenarios has a higher technical match than lithium replacing lead. On the same starting line, whoever has channels, recycling, a start-stop model library, and IEC discourse power, and whoever calculates the TCO account for car owners and the power grid first—currently, Tianneng is the most likely one to break out first among the lead-acid battery family.
Tianneng's second growth curve is worth looking forward to, but it is not a story of "sodium-ion immediately filling the profit gap of lead-acid," but a three-layer superposition: the lead-acid basic disk provides cash flow and channels to withstand the zero-growth period of the main business; lithium-ion energy storage first runs through system capabilities and overseas qualifications; sodium-ion start-stop and energy storage complete the iteration from release to small batch to second generation within a year, seizing the most profitable start-stop aftermarket and cold region replacement in the "lead-acid replacement."
Note: The content of this article is only a compilation of public information in the energy storage industry, industrial research, and objective analysis. The listed companies mentioned in the article are only for reference as industry chain cases and do not serve as any investment basis. The market has risks, and investment should be cautious.