At the 2025 World Energy Storage Conference held on September 17, 2025, Zeng Yuqun, founder and chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), pointed out in his keynote address that the global energy storage industry is currently at a critical transformation period. While fully acknowledging the tremendous achievements made, the industry must maintain a clear understanding of the severe challenges it faces in order to drive truly high-quality and sustainable development.
Zeng stated that energy storage, as a key pillar of the energy revolution, has developed rapidly in recent years. However, beneath the prosperous landscape, a series of deep-seated problems and challenges are becoming increasingly prominent, requiring urgent attention and collective response from the entire industry.
The primary challenge directly addresses safety issues. Zeng cited incomplete statistics indicating that as of May this year, 167 major energy storage safety incidents have occurred globally. As energy storage systems are increasingly called upon for power grid peak shaving and frequency regulation, their safe operation faces unprecedented enormous challenges. How to build stronger safety defenses is a primary issue that the industry cannot avoid.
Malicious price competition has become a "cancer" in the industry. Zeng revealed that over the past three years, energy storage system prices have dropped by an astonishing 80%. He specifically mentioned that the winning bid price of a recent group procurement project even broke through the psychological bottom line of 0.4 yuan/Wh, severely deviating from healthy costs. This "bad money drives out good money" vicious competition inevitably leads companies to "reduce quantity and cut costs" in product materials, processes, and protection, creating enormous hidden dangers for the long-term safe and stable operation of energy storage projects.
He further pointed out that the price war atmosphere has spread to overseas markets, not only drastically compressing companies' profit margins and R&D investment capabilities, but ultimately resulting in "more harm than good," damaging the competitiveness and reputation of the entire industry.
False product specifications and promotional fraud damage industry integrity. Zeng criticized that some companies are unwilling to invest earnestly in technological R&D, yet are enthusiastic about "making articles" on product parameters and "shooting from the hip" on key indicators such as warranty life. Based on actual operational performance tracking, the actual cycle life and performance of energy storage systems in some projects are far below manufacturers' promises, seriously affecting investment returns and customer confidence.
Technology homogenization constrains innovation vitality. Zeng pointed out that driven by capital, many companies choose to take "shortcuts," preferring to imitate and copy rather than settle down to engage in independent innovation and original R&D. This leads to low product differentiation and insufficient core technology reserves, which will weaken the global competitiveness of China's energy storage industry in the long run.
Blind expansion and disorderly competition create social risks. Zeng shared an alarming statistic: the number of registered energy storage companies in China currently exceeds 300,000. He predicts that comprehensive market competition will accelerate industry consolidation, with large numbers of companies facing elimination. "Once companies are eliminated, who will be responsible for maintaining their completed 'orphan power stations'?" Zeng warned, "Future operation and maintenance responsibilities may very well be passed on to society and the state, becoming a potential social burden."
Facing these challenges, Zeng called on industry peers, policymakers, and all sectors of society to maintain objectivity and rationality, jointly creating a healthy and orderly development environment. He emphasized that safety must be placed as the absolute priority, adhering to quality bottom lines; abandoning vicious short-term price competition in favor of pursuing full lifecycle value creation; encouraging original technological innovation to break through homogenization constraints; strengthening industry norms and standard construction to prevent disorderly expansion, and guiding the industry from high-speed growth toward a high-quality development track.
At a time when the energy storage industry is surging forward at the forefront of development, Zeng's remarks undoubtedly provide sober reflection for the energy storage industry and point the way toward a sustainable future.