Envision AESC opens the world's first 100GWh energy storage gigafactory
YICHANG, China. Envision AESC officially brought its Yichang Superfactory online on July 15, 2026, with the first shipment of 790Ah large-format energy storage cells already en route to Germany. The commissioning ceremony was attended by Huang Jianxiong, Secretary of the Yichang Municipal Party Committee; Chen Honghui, Mayor of Yichang; Zhao Weijun, President of Envision AESC China; and Qian Zhenhua, Global President of Envision AESC's Energy Storage Cell Business Unit.
Two phases, four decades compressed into a year
At 100GWh-scale, this fully integrated energy storage production base is being developed in two phases. Phase I, with 40GWh of cell capacity, broke ground in October 2025 and reached production in under one year. Phase II, which broke ground in April 2026, will add 60GWh of cell capacity and 60GWh of system integration capacity. When fully ramped, the complex will deliver end-to-end supply capabilities spanning individual cells to complete energy storage systems. our Battery Tech desk.
The 790Ah cell marks the largest prismatic winding design in mass production
The 790Ah cell is the world's largest prismatic winding cell currently in production globally, with a volumetric energy density of 440Wh/L, cycle life exceeding 12,000 cycles, and round-trip efficiency of 96%. More than 50% of the 790Ah cell capacity from Yichang has already been secured by overseas customers, said Zhao Weijun, President of Envision AESC China. Production start equals immediate delivery, and delivery equals export. This strongly confirms that China's high-quality manufacturing continues to earn trust in global markets. The company built the 790Ah cell through iterative development across 300+Ah, 500+Ah, and 700+Ah series, each generation approaching a systematically optimized solution that integrates materials, process technology, manufacturing equipment, site engineering, and grid-friendliness into a single design.
CATL targets cost parity between sodium-ion and lithium iron phosphate by end-2026
Around the same period, CATL told Renewables Now that it aims to match lithium iron phosphate cell costs by the end of 2026, with total system costs, factoring in integration improvements, on track for parity. The Chinese battery maker's spokesperson said the sodium-ion chemistry is designed to complement LFP in applications where energy density is less critical but cost per cycle matters more. Sodium-ion avoids lithium entirely by using abundant sodium salts as the active material. That means lower material cost and no reliance on lithium supply chains that remain concentrated in China, Australia, and Chile. CATL plans to continue decreasing costs as the industry chain and technology mature through the end of 2026 and beyond.
Export orders already stretch across four continents
Envision AESC has secured major orders across Europe, Africa, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region this year, covering storage cells, system integration, and integrated wind-solar-storage-hydrogen solutions. This reflects the industry's shift toward system capability exports as Chinese clean energy players expand globally. To date, Envision AESC has built 14 battery gigafactories across China, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain, with cumulative energy storage cell deliveries exceeding 100GWh and participation in more than 400 storage projects worldwide.
AI-optimized systems change how developers evaluate storage
Using the mass-produced 790Ah cell as a foundation, Envision's system-level solutions are rapidly taking shape in Yichang. The world's first 12.5MWh AI-optimized energy storage system, unveiled in April 2026, integrates the 790Ah cell as its core hardware with embedded physical AI capabilities. The system can boost project internal rate of return by 4 percentage points to 8 percentage points, delivering full-chain value gains for customers. That combination of large cells and software optimization may change the unit economics of every storage project the company enters.
China's 300GW target by 2030 gives the whole sector a roadmap
With the global energy transition accelerating and demand from emerging sectors such as AI data centers surging, the new energy storage industry is entering a period of growth. In line with this momentum, China's State Council recently issued the "15th Five-Year Plan" Carbon Peaking Action Plan, which sets a target of 300GW of new energy storage capacity by 2030, providing a clear strategic direction for the industry's high-quality development. The plan also targets the entire clean energy transition, with sodium-ion falling squarely inside the lower-cost materials playbook.
The next wave of Chinese competition is coming fast
The Yichang Superfactory represents not only a manufacturing milestone but also a strategic bet on the future of stationary storage. As system-level competition intensifies, Envision AESC's vertically integrated model, spanning materials, cells, systems, and AI-enabled software, positions the company to capture value across the entire energy storage value chain. With its first wave of exports already underway, the facility will likely accelerate the rollout of Made in Yichang products beyond the current Europe, Africa, North America, and Asia-Pacific order book. Combining 790Ah cell production at scale, AI-optimized system design, and an export-first mindset may rewrite the calculus for project developers evaluating storage options in the second half of this decade. In Europe especially, where utilities face tight economics on grid reinforcement projects, a manufacturer shipping cells with proven cycle life and round-trip efficiency can matter for project viability.
Reuters covers lithium battery supply chains across global markets
The 790Ah cell is not a simple capacity expansion but rather a systematically optimized solution that integrates materials, process technology, manufacturing equipment, site engineering, and grid-friendliness into a single architecture. By combining breakthrough material innovations with full-process AI-driven quality control, Envision AESC has resolved the safety and consistency challenges inherent in large-format cells. The 790Ah cell has passed multiple high-risk tests and received certifications from leading global authorities.
In practical terms, this means that a single Yichang Superfactory phase could supply enough cells for multiple gigawatt-scale projects across continents without requiring additional supplier qualification cycles. That is why Zhao Weijun emphasized that production start equals immediate delivery, and delivery equals export. For project developers, this reduces both timeline risk and procurement uncertainty at exactly the moment when global storage deployment is accelerating.
The sodium-ion cost trajectory complements this manufacturing scale. Even if sodium-ion never fully displaces LFP in every application, CATL's commitment to cost parity by end-2026 changes the pricing trends for stationary storage projects that prioritize total cost of ownership over specific energy density metrics. Together, the Yichang factory and the sodium-ion cost curve suggest that storage economics are entering a new phase of rapid improvement rather than gradual incremental change.
For Indonesia and Southeast Asia, these developments carry direct implications. Local utilities planning storage for renewable integration will find that global manufacturing scale is driving prices downward faster than domestic policy alone could achieve. The challenge now is ensuring that local grid infrastructure and regulatory frameworks can absorb this incoming supply of large-format, high-efficiency storage systems without creating new bottlenecks.
The Yichang Superfactory therefore stands as both a factory and a signal. It demonstrates that Chinese battery manufacturing is not merely expanding in volume but maturing in quality, with AI-driven quality control, certified large-format cells, and direct export strategies. Project developers comparing storage options should expect more choices at lower cost, and should expect those choices to arrive faster than conventional procurement timelines suggest. The combination of 790Ah cells, AI-optimized 12.5MWh systems, and sodium-ion cost parity points to one conclusion: the storage market is about to become larger, cheaper, and more competitive than it has ever been.