100GWh-Scale Energy Storage Manufacturers Pivot to Long-Duration Market as Scale-Driven Cost Reduction Dividends Narrow
nashnova research
China's largest battery makers are finding that scale alone no longer drives meaningful cost reductions; long-duration storage orders and system integration have become the new competitive frontier — reshaping how profits are distributed across the entire storage supply chain.
Why is scaling alone no longer enough?
At the World Energy Storage Conference, Vice Minister Xiong Jijun of China's MIIT called for a shift from capacity expansion to quality and efficiency, with stronger overcapacity early-warning mechanisms.
Hithium (海辰储能) President Wang Pengcheng was blunt: "The cost-reduction dividends from simply scaling up production are indeed narrowing."
This means → The era of "build more, pay less" is closing. The next round of cost cuts depends on product innovation and system-level integration, not more production lines.
Why do projects over four hours now account for nearly 70%?
In the first three quarters, tracked storage procurement totaled 112 GWh; projects of four hours or longer reached 74.75 GWh — a 66.75% share.
In plain terms = The higher the share of wind and solar, the more energy must be shifted across time blocks. One- or two-hour storage can no longer cover the gap, so utilities must buy longer-duration batteries.
Key math: at the same discharge power, doubling duration from two to four hours doubles the battery capacity needed — directly amplifying GWh procurement volumes.
How do bigger cells replace "just build more"?
Hithium launched a 1,175 Ah four-hour cell; EVE Energy's (亿纬锂能) 628 Ah cell is already in mass production.
This means → Larger individual cells mean fewer cells for the same total energy, compressing connectors, structural parts, and assembly steps — replacing "stack more cells" with "make each cell bigger."
But manufacturing difficulty rises in step: materials, process design, and quality control all need simultaneous adjustment. Hithium's Chongqing plant links data from raw materials through to finished cells to predict capacity and control batch consistency.
Why are battery makers moving into system integration?
Chinese buyers are shifting procurement from cells to full systems; overseas demand has moved further — from DC systems to AC-side and even turnkey whole-station delivery.
Hithium's Chongqing plant can now complete the full chain on one site: cells → 195 kWh battery packs → 6.25 MWh standardized systems.
This reflects a fundamental shift: once a battery maker takes system orders directly, it is no longer just a supplier to integrators — it competes with them in the same tenders.
Has the profit divergence already begun?
First half of this year: EVE Energy's storage battery revenue grew 69.15%, yet gross margin fell 1.36 percentage points; Sungrow's (阳光电源) margin dropped 7.49 pp; HyperStrong's (海博思创) margin rose roughly 3.5 pp.
In plain terms = On the same track, cell sellers and system integrators are already seeing profit trajectories split apart.
This means → The defining question of the next round is clear: now that battery makers can supply full systems, can integrators defend their differentiation through system design and engineering delivery capability alone?
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