What happened
At the Sept 3-4 World Power Battery Conference in Yibin, Sichuan, battery manufacturers projected strong optimism. EVE Energy chairman Liu Jincheng said 2026 felt rarely cheerful, pointing to newly confirmed technical directions, stable room for profit, and industry-wide agreement on disciplined capacity expansion. He said fellow chairmen at closed-door meetings appeared happy, including SVOLT's Yang Hongxin announcing profitability.
Automakers painted the opposite picture. Changan Automobile vice president and Shenlan Auto chairman Deng Chenghao noted that while people share one room, some feel warm and others cold, describing serious imbalances in how profits are distributed across the supply chain. Voyah chairman Lu Fang echoed that upstream battery and chip links capture most of the industry's profits, squeezing reinvestment by vehicle makers.
Why it matters
The polarized sentiment highlights a structural issue in the electric vehicle economy: battery and chip suppliers are reaping the bulk of value while automakers struggle. Industry data shared at the conference showed eight listed power battery makers posting cumulative H1 profit of 50.846 billion yuan, with most growing revenue and profit, whereas 23 mainstream listed vehicle makers together earned only 25.1 billion yuan as average profit in domestic vehicle manufacturing fell to 1.5%.
The conference also reflected cooling sentiment on all-solid-state batteries, with commercialization expectations pushed later, while energy storage emerged as the new focal point, with storage cells in short supply and prices climbing. These shifts could redefine where the next wave of competition and margin pressure emerges.
Key facts
The 2026 World Power Battery Conference took place Sept 3-4 in Yibin, Sichuan.
Battery makers were upbeat while automakers emphasized severe profit-distribution imbalance in the industrial chain.
Eight listed power battery companies had H1 cumulative profits of 50.846 billion yuan; 23 mainstream listed automakers' cumulative profit was 25.1 billion yuan.
Expectations for all-solid-state battery mass commercialization were generally pushed back at this year's event.
Storage batteries were reported in tight supply, with rising prices and planned capacity expansion exceeding 800GWh this year.
What to watch next
Automakers' calls for fairer profit sharing could intensify as margins stay under pressure from upstream battery and chip suppliers.
All-solid-state battery timelines will be tested as companies like Changan aim for small-scale solid-state production by 2030 and SVOLT plans to make all ternary batteries hybrid solid-liquid by end-2027.
Watch for possible government guidance or industry self-restraint to curb irrational storage battery capacity expansion and price wars.