China's 2% battery tax exempts exports and sodium cells

The EU battery passport date is holding at 18 February 2027, and its registry is now live. The Commission's own battery passport page confirms the digital battery passport stays mandatory for in-scope categories placed on the EU market from 18 February 2027, with no slip. The newer development: the DPP Registry implementing act was targeted for July 2026 adoption and the registry became operational on 20 July 2026, so the plumbing suppliers report into now exists.

European Commission

India sets a hard date for rated-capacity testing. Acting on a MeitY directive over misdeclared capacities, the Bureau of Indian Standards issued February 2026 guidelines making rated-capacity verification mandatory for portable rechargeable lithium cells and batteries (IS 16046 Part 2), tested under IS 16047 Part 3, Clause 7.3.1. Existing BIS licence holders must file third-party lab reports by 30 April 2027; from 1 May 2027 no new licence issues without capacity test results.

SolarQuarter

China's new battery-safety standard is now in force. The GB 38031-2025 power-battery and companion GB 18384-2025 EV-safety standards we flagged in our June issue took effect on 1 July 2026. Beyond the 'no fire, no explosion' bar, the newly binding rule also mandates a physical one-touch high-voltage power-off mechanism on the vehicle.

CarNewsChina

China is putting a tax back on domestic battery sales, but direct exports are spared. The Ministry of Finance, Customs and the State Taxation Administration will levy a 2% consumption tax on lithium-ion batteries (cells, packs and clusters) sold inside China from 1 September 2026, rising to the statutory 4% on 1 September 2027. Batteries shipped directly for export stay exempt, and sodium-ion and solid-state batteries are exempt through 31 December 2028. The design quietly tilts China's home market toward sodium-ion.

pv magazine

CATL's 587Ah storage cell is shipping at scale. CATL's July 2026 investor record says its 587Ah large-format energy-storage cell has reached scaled delivery, with energy storage near 70% of its mix. The 587Ah class is becoming the default large cell for new BESS builds.

SMM

A price floor to benchmark your 2026 quotes against. BloombergNEF forecasts US and European stationary-storage system prices falling 10 to 20% in 2026 to roughly $125/kWh. That builds on BNEF's December 2025 survey, which put stationary-storage pack prices at $70/kWh (down 45% year on year) and overall lithium-ion pack prices at $108/kWh (down 8%).

Green Building Africa, citing BloombergNEF

China just stopped vetting second-life battery makers. On 30 July 2026 MIIT abolished the second-life/echelon-use clauses of its 2024 'Industry Standard Conditions for Comprehensive Utilization of Used NEV Power Batteries', ending its qualification list for second-life producers and removing every previously listed company; the separate disassembly-recycling enterprise list is untouched.

SMM

A US rule for handling dead lithium batteries is coming. EPA's regulatory agenda targets a proposed rule in February 2026 (final targeted August 2027, subject to shutdown delay) that would carve lithium batteries into their own universal-waste category under RCRA, separate from the current battery rule, with added fire-safety handling standards.

Beveridge & Diamond

Verify what actually arrived. The code printed on a Chinese-made cell can only be read once the goods are in your hands. When a delivery lands, paste a code into the decoder: it returns the manufacturer, chemistry, spec and exact production date in seconds, the facts the shipping paperwork won't, enough to catch relabeled or calendar-aged stock before you sign off the batch.