300+Ah Cell S-D Situation

In the booming year of 2022 for ESS, HITHIUM's launch of 300Ah cells has sparked widespread market discussion. Opinions vary on the capacity of the next generation of energy storage cells, with debates on who can go beyond 280Ah to lead the market for the next generation of standard ESS cells. Major cell manufacturers are developing different products in the 300-350Ah range, and some companies are ambitiously developing cells over 500Ah. One year on, have the 300+ new products become mainstream? Let's see how the market responds.

300+ cells: Accelerated production line transitions and notable regional preferences

From a production capacity perspective, several leading cell manufacturers are rapidly releasing 300+Ah cell capacity. In particular, major manufacturers such as CATL, REPT, CALB and Greatpoweri are leading the way in expanding their production capacity. Some manufacturers have already exceeded 10GWh of 300+ cell production capacity.

According to SMM statistics, the supply rate of 300+Ah cells has reached almost 30% of the total market in terms of production capacity.

In terms of shipments, the proportion of 300+Ah cells shipped in March reached 35%.

SMM's analysis of the shipments and geographical distribution of different ESS cells, specifically the 306Ah and 314Ah models, indicates that downstream integrator customers in different regions have distinct preferences for these cells.

Chinese Market: Preference for 314Ah, with the fastest switching speed downstream. The choice and switching of cell models in the Chinese market are mainly due to the following reasons:

1. Cost-driven: The low profitability of energy storage projects leads to a cost-sensitive market that quickly selects products. Integrators and owners choose the 314Ah cells due to their low integration costs.

2. Flexible certification cycle: Project bidding and certification can be carried out simultaneously. For some projects, it is sufficient to pass the new national standard certification at the time of grid connection, significantly reducing the waiting time for certification.

3. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) leading the market: A large number of Chinese SOE integrators are spearheading the adoption of 314Ah cells, accelerating the transition to mainstream market products.

European Market:

Safety is the most important, 306Ah selected but Mostly for Strategy Agreements, Leading Integrators Start Procuring from CATL. Many major European integrators, including Wartsila, are currently opting for 306Ah cells as the foundation for their next-generation integrated products. This decision largely takes into account the certification period, safety, and the total lifecycle energy issues of both 306Ah and 314Ah cells.

1. Long Certification Period: After selecting the cells, European integrators need to wait for the cells to pass certification, complete the integrated product design, and pass the certification of the integrated product before they can participate in bidding. The 306Ah cells went into mass production earlier, thus their certification process is more advanced.

2. Cell Performance Differences: The 306Ah cells (>10,000 cycles) have a longer life cycle compared to the 314Ah cells (>7,000 cycles). The total life cycle processed energy of the 306Ah cells is nearly comparable to that of the 314Ah cells. In addition, the thermal performance of the 306Ah cells is more controllable compared to the 314Ah cells. As a result, most European integrators choose the 306Ah cells

U.S. Market:

1. The U.S. market is quite segmented.:Many small integrators are optimistic about the optimization potential of the 314Ah cells and choose them to reduce integration costs.

2. Professional integrators like Fluence and Powin, who wish to balance safety and cost-effectiveness, tend to prefer the 306Ah cells and will also public 314Ah integrated products

3. Developer clients like Nextera, who are not highly sensitive to product iterations, focus more on project development and safety and are expected to stick with the 280Ah cells in the short term.

For more information, please contact: cathycai@smm.cn