The 2026 World Power Battery Conference opened in Yibin, Sichuan, on September 3, 2026, bringing together battery makers, automakers and regulators to discuss quality and the next wave of technology.
In a video speech, CATL chairman Zeng Yiqun sharply criticized the industry's "speed-to-market" chaos: more than 600 new car models have launched in China so far this year, nearly three per day, with some compressing test cycles and causing batches of power-battery faults. He noted that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has launched a one-year special campaign on production consistency and quality improvement.
At the opening ceremony, eight innovative technologies were unveiled together, including ultra-fast charging, high-energy mixed solid-liquid batteries with an energy density of 350 Wh/kg now entering scaled production, a fourth-generation high-compaction lithium iron phosphate chemistry exceeding 200 Wh/kg, and long-life battery-swapping batteries.
Image: BYD 1,500 kW flash charging station demo, representing next-generation battery infrastructure. Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).
