“New energy” is heavily used in China, the term figuring prominently in the country’s policies, development plans and news reports. This label extends to vehicles that utilize electricity, including plug-in hybrids, as well as to batteries and fuel cells, encompassing entire industries. To this day, the advancement of new energy vehicles, batteries and fuel cells continues to receive substantial support from the central and local governments.
Leading in this development is Jiangsu province’s Changzhou, widely referred as the “China’s new energy capital.” The city already had new energy in its sights as far back as 2009, including it among five key industrial pursuits that year. But it was not until 2022 that it endeavored to be recognized as such, having attracted significant investment for this agenda.
The key industry players with a presence there include lithium battery specialists CALB and SVOLT, and electric vehicle manufacturers Li Auto and BYD. Meanwhile, SAIC and CATL entered a joint venture for a battery project in Liyang, a county-level city under Changzhou. The first phase has been operational since 2018, while the second was scheduled for completion in 2024.
The city’s GDP breached the one trillion-yuan mark in 2023, with new energy accounting for 98.9 percent of its industrial growth, according to an article on the China News Service’s official English-language website. “From a larger view angle, for every 14 new energy vehicles produced in China, one is manufactured in Changzhou. In addition, the production and sales of power batteries account for one-fifth in our country, and one in every ten new energy vehicles worldwide is equipped with a battery made in Changzhou.”
This preeminence prompted Chen Jinhu, secretary of the CPC Changzhou Municipal Committee, to say in 2023 that “Changzhou's new energy industry has witnessed strong growth, with the industrial agglomeration level ranking fifth in China and the investment heat evaluation ranking first in China.”
2024 performance
Beating its 2023 GDP, Changzhou posted 1.08136 trillion yuan or $150.18 billion the following year. The 6.1 percent increase was the highest record in the southern part of Jiangsu, according to the Changzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics.
In industrial production value, the city also reached a historical high of 1.7523 trillion yuan or $243.3 billion, rising by 3.8 percent year on year. Of this, 850 billion yuan or $118.05 billion came from the new energy industry.
As for the number of electric vehicles produced, Changzhou ranked third in China with 800,000 units in 2024 thanks to the many factories, including those owned by BYD and Li Auto.
Supply chain advantage
Changzhou boasts a comprehensive supply chain for EV batteries thanks to the many first-tier upstream and downstream manufacturers that set up production bases and research centers there.
This makes the city an important source of the four key components of these batteries such as cathode and anode materials, separators and electrolytes, with notable suppliers including BTR, Liyang Zichen and Xinlun.
SEMCORP, a leading manufacturer of separators domestically and overseas, has joined this circle. It set up a subsidiary in Changzhou in 2021, investing $720 million in the construction of a factory with 235,450sqm total area and equipped with 16 production lines. Mass production began in 2024, with annual output set to exceed 150 million square meters.
Further expansion
As defined in Changzhou’s 14th Five-Year Plan, the power battery industry will be on the scale of $25 billion by the end of 2025. This is in support of the city’s EV industry which will be a $55.55 billion market by then.
As such, battery manufacturers will continue to further expand their production in the near term, with some beyond the city borders.
CALB, whose headquarters are in Changzhou, has started mass production at its new $1.66 billion project in Chengdu. This brings the company’s total capacity to 500GWh power batteries and energy storage systems in 2025. More expansion will be undertaken in the next five years, with the goal of reaching 1,000GWh annually in 2030. CALB is also constructing a new factory in Portugal, scheduled to be completed and begin operating on a mass scale in 2028. This $2.3 billion venture will turn out 15GWh batteries every year.
Technology pursuits
There is sustained R&D in Changzhou as part of concerted efforts to broaden the industry. By 2022, there were already 4,444 power battery-related patents acquired by local enterprises, universities and research institutions. It was the biggest number achieved in China.
Such product development initiatives will continue. CALB, for instance, announced in early 2025 that it would work with universities and EV companies on a project involving high-safety and -energy Li-ion battery technology. The objective is to improve energy density, fast charging and power output capacity up to the highest level realized overseas.
SVOLT, meanwhile, has introduced short blade batteries with a unique thermal composite fly stacking technology. This method enables a charge rate of up to 6C, cell energy density of 195Wh/kg and a cycle life span of over 5,000 times. It doubles the charging efficiency and heat dissipation compared to the average level of power batteries in the country. With this suite of features, the batteries integrating a smart BMS ensure electric vehicles can run 600,000km in 15 years.
Industry boost
Against this backdrop, Changzhou has been inviting innovation and collaboration. In September 2025, it brought back the Changzhou International New Energy Automobile Industry and Parts Expo at the Changzhou West Taihu International Expo Center.
The goal is to “accelerate the comprehensive electrification transformation of the automotive industry under the vision of carbon neutrality, further strengthen the collaborative cooperation of the global new energy vehicle industry, create a sustainable supply chain for the new energy vehicle industry, and jointly build a new green, low-carbon, and sustainable development state for the global automotive industry.”
