A monthly briefing on battery regulation, China's supply chain, and prices, for the people who buy and deploy the cells. From batterydays.com.
Regulation Watch
The EU label spec missed its own deadline. Yours hasn't moved. Under Article 13(10) of the Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, the European Commission had until 18 August 2025 to adopt the implementing act that defines harmonised label formats. As of 11 June 2026 it has not. The draft implementing regulation went out for public feedback on 15 December 2025, drew 91 submissions, and is still in the adoption workflow. The regulation's calendar nonetheless points to labelling obligations from 18 August 2026. Don't print labels from a draft spec, but have your label data ready. We'll flag the adoption the month it lands.
Due diligence is postponed. The guidelines are not. Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 pushed battery due diligence obligations from 18 August 2025 to 18 August 2027. The same amendment gives the Commission until 26 July 2026 to publish its due diligence guidelines on responsible sourcing of cobalt, lithium, nickel and natural graphite. That is seven weeks away. If you sell into the EU above the turnover threshold, those guidelines will be your first concrete checklist.
US: the 45% question. IRS Notice 2026-15 (12 February 2026) sets interim safe harbors for the "prohibited foreign entity" rules. A storage project that begins construction in 2026 keeps its Section 48E investment tax credit only if no more than 45% of its direct manufactured-product costs trace back to prohibited foreign entities, a list that captures the major Chinese cell makers. Treasury says fuller proposed regulations are on the way and is taking comments via regulations.gov.
| Date | What changes | Who should care |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Jul 2026 | GB 38031-2025 in force for newly type-approved EV models in China | EV-grade cell buyers |
| 26 Jul 2026 | EU due diligence guidelines due from the Commission | EU sellers above turnover threshold |
| 18 Aug 2026 | EU labelling obligations per the regulation's calendar (format act still in draft) | Anyone placing batteries on the EU market |
| 18 Aug 2027 | EU due diligence obligations apply | EU sellers |
| In 2026 | US 48E credit requires ≤45% of costs from prohibited foreign entities (construction starts) | US storage developers |
China & Global Supply Watch
Three weeks to GB 38031-2025. China's mandatory EV battery safety standard takes effect on 1 July 2026 for newly type-approved models and on 1 July 2027 for existing ones. A pack must neither catch fire nor explode after thermal runaway, must pass a new bottom-impact test, and must survive an external short-circuit test after 300 fast-charge cycles. If you buy EV-grade cells from China, ask your supplier which cell families are certified under the new standard. It is about to become the floor for cell safety in your supply chain. The State Council's English summary is a readable primer.
SNEC 2026 (3 to 5 June, Shanghai) previewed what lands in your market next year.
| Vendor | What | Key numbers | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| CATL | Sodium-ion BESS, 20-ft container | 3.07 MWh · 316Ah Na-ion cells · 15,000 cycles at 25°C / 9,000 at 45°C · ~47 t | Q3 2026 |
| Hithium | 1300Ah LDES cell, production version | 6.9 MWh container · native 8-hour discharge | Q4 2026 |
| EVE Energy | >67 GWh agreements, five customers incl. Brazil's Genesis Energia | 6.9+ MWh container · >10,000 cycles | signed 3–5 Jun |
Hithium's "world's first" and EVE's 67 GWh are the companies' own figures, not independently audited.
The data behind it. CABIA's May figures put China's domestic power-battery installations at 71.9 GWh. Combined power and storage sales reached 182.2 GWh, up 47.4% year on year, and 29.3 GWh of it went to export (CABIA via Sina Tech). At an 81.2% share, LFP is simply the default now.
Market & Prices
- Lithium carbonate traded at 166,500 CNY/t on 11 June, down about 17% from the two-year high of 200,500 CNY/t reached on 13 May as producers restart idled mines, and still roughly 175% above a year ago (Trading Economics).
- Cell prices are following lithium up. Mainstream 314Ah LFP storage cells rose about 22% in six months, from 0.300 RMB/Wh in late October 2025 to 0.365 RMB/Wh on 20 April 2026 (ESS News).
- Tenders show where the floor sits. In CEEC's 7 GWh procurement, the lowest bid for cells of 314Ah and above came in at 0.34 RMB/Wh, about $47/kWh (ESS News). If a volume quote lands far above that, you now know the spread you're negotiating against.
Decoder Corner
Catch old stock in five seconds. The 24-character traceability code on every Chinese cell carries its exact production date. A cell sold as "fresh 2026 production" shows a G in the year slot; an E or a D means it left the line in 2024 or 2023 and has been calendar-aging in a warehouse since. Paste the code into the decoder below and it reads the production date, the real manufacturer, and the spec for you, and auto-corrects the usual OCR mix-ups between 0 and O or 1 and I.