CATL (300750.SZ) ESS Open Day Takeaways Deepening Moat in the System Integration Transition

Equity Research 22 September 2026 | 11:00PM HKT

CATL (300750.SZ): ESS Open-Day Takeaways: Deepening Moat in the System-Integration Transition

We attended two ESS-focused open-day events hosted by CATL during September Nick Zheng, CFA | 20-21 as part of the company’s Global Quality Month: a panel discussion with CTOs Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C.

from CATL’s ESS business and selected customers in Ningde, followed by a visit to the Selina Yan | Xiamen Energy Storage Validation Research Institute (ESVL). Key takeaways from the Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C.

events reinforced our differentiated thesis that CATL’s transition from battery supplier to integrated BESS solution provider remains underappreciated (see our initiation). In our view, CATL is deepening its system-level moat through an ecosystem approach that combines cell quality, system integration, field-data analytics, grid know-how and validation infrastructure—supporting margin resilience, earnings quality, market share gains and valuation upside over the long-term. Reiterate Buy.

We summarize below our top five takeaways from the two events.

1. CATL’s moat is shifting from cell quality to full-stack system intelligence. Best-in-class cell reliability remains the foundation, but the bigger differentiation is CATL’s ability to integrate chemistry, thermal management, BMS/EMS algorithms, grid simulation and field data into one optimized BESS platform. 2. Quality is an IRR lever, not a cost item. Capex premium explains only a small part of project economics, while higher availability, slower degradation, wider usable DoD and on-time commissioning can compound into meaningfully better lifecycle returns. 3. CATL expects ESS momentum to remain strong into 2027E. The company guides for 40-50% global ESS battery demand growth and expects another year of solid growth in China. 4. Sodium-ion is becoming a credible long-duration ESS chemistry. CATL positions sodium not just as a lithium supplement, but as a lifecycle-driven solution with cost, safety, temperature-tolerance and resource-security advantages, especially for long-tenor projects. 5. ESVL can help turn BESS from a black box into a verifiable asset. The Xiamen facility highlights CATL’s push from component testing to full-system, station-level validation, making safety, reliability and 20-year asset performance more transparent before commercial deployment.

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Goldman Sachs CATL (300750.SZ)

Panelists: n Mr. WU Dianfeng, CTO of zero-carbon division, CATL

n Mr. LIN Jiubiao, CTO of domestic ESS division, CATL n Mr. REN Feng, CEO, Shenzhen Huagong Energy Technology n Mr. WANG Kun, Chairman, Jiangsu Guosheng Chuangrong New Energy and Nanjing Sixiang New Energy

Key messages from the panel discussion are summarized below.

System integration is more than assembly n CATL believes one of the biggest misconceptions in ESS is that system integration simply means assembling components from different vendors. In its view, even high-quality certified components do not automatically translate into stable system-level performance, as compatibility across cells, PCS, thermal management, BMS/EMS and grid interaction is often underappreciated. n CATL compared deep ESS integration with leading integrated products in other industries, including Apple’s iPhone, Tesla’s Model 3 and NVIDIA’s GB300. The company believes its Tener system follows a similar logic by combining hardware, software and control algorithms into one optimized platform.

CATL’s moat: from cells to full-stack system intelligence n CATL’s competitive moat starts with best-in-class battery quality. A large-scale BESS contains thousands of cabinets and potentially…