At the docks of Zhaoqing's Sihui Port, a shipment of lithium batteries is being loaded onto vessels, destined for the Port of Hamburg, Germany, via Shenzhen's Yantian Port. Customs data reveals that from January to July 2026, Zhaoqing's total foreign trade value reached 33.59 billion yuan, a robust 35.1% year-on-year increase, ranking first in the Pearl River Delta and third province-wide in growth. Notably, exports of lithium-ion batteries hit 1.65 billion yuan, surging threefold year-on-year, far outpacing both provincial and national growth rates.

Zhaoqing shipped its first batch of lithium batteries back in 2021. Today, these batteries have evolved into the city's flagship export product, driving a significant transformation in its foreign trade landscape. This dramatic shift can be traced back to a strategic decision made a decade earlier.

Where the Ascent Began

In 2016, Zhaoqing first identified new energy vehicles as a key industrial direction. The following year, XPeng Motors invested 10 billion yuan to establish the Zhaoqing XPeng Intelligent Connected Vehicle Industrial Park in the Zhaoqing High-tech Zone. This move attracted a cluster of new energy vehicle parts suppliers, and soon after, leading battery manufacturers like CATL set up operations in the city. The industrial chain began to extend from vehicle assembly to power batteries and energy storage systems.

Driven by anchor enterprises like Ruijing Times, Zhaoqing's new energy storage industry chain gradually took shape, leading to a rapid increase in new energy battery exports. This success is the culmination of a decade-long strategy focused on cultivating the new energy vehicle industry, attracting key players, and building comprehensive supply chains. A single battery has become the new engine for Zhaoqing's foreign trade growth, signaling the city's accelerated transition from traditional manufacturing to a high-tech new energy hub.

This year, Zhaoqing has set even loftier goals: achieving an output value of approximately 100 billion yuan for its new energy vehicle and parts manufacturing sector, and 75 billion yuan for its new energy storage and green energy industries.

Zhaoqing Catches the Wave

The story of Zhaoqing's lithium battery exports began modestly. In 2021, Guangdong Xinjiameng Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. exported a batch of lithium-ion battery packs to Japan after passing Zhaoqing Customs inspections, marking the city's first-ever lithium battery export. At the time, it was a tentative move by a single electronics firm, with little hint of the explosive growth to come.

The turning point arrived in 2022 when Ruijing Times' first phase factory commenced operations, officially rolling out its cell products. That year alone, it generated approximately 9 billion yuan in output value, which soared past 21 billion yuan in 2023. By the end of 2023, 102 cabinet-type lithium battery energy storage systems produced by the company were shipped from Sihui Port to Germany. This marked Zhaoqing's first lithium battery export through a local port with river-sea intermodal transport, eliminating the need to move goods to other ports and significantly reducing logistics costs.

Since then, lithium battery exports from Zhaoqing have accelerated dramatically. In 2024, exports reached 330 million yuan, up 46.8% year-on-year; by 2025, that figure had jumped to 1.95 billion yuan, a roughly fivefold increase. In just the first seven months of this year, exports have already hit 1.65 billion yuan.

The expansion of production capacity at leading enterprises is a primary driver. The Zhaoqing High-tech Zone accounts for over 80% of the city's total "new three items" (lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and photovoltaic products) export value. In the first half of 2024, Ruijing Times completed 130 million yuan in lithium battery exports. Together with Leoch International, the two companies' combined exports reached 240 million yuan, a 133% increase year-on-year, representing over 90% of Zhaoqing's total "new three items" exports during that period.

The booming external demand has opened a window for Zhaoqing's capacity to flourish. According to data from the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, from January to June this year, China's cumulative exports of power and energy storage batteries reached 181.3 GWh, a 42.5% increase year-on-year, accounting for 18.5% of total sales. Power batteries made up 122.7 GWh (67.7% of exports, up 50.3%), while energy storage batteries contributed 58.6 GWh (32.3% of exports, up 28.5%). While power batteries remain the backbone of exports, energy storage is emerging as a new growth pole.

As global energy transition accelerates, overseas grid upgrades proceed, and large-scale solar-plus-storage projects come online, international demand for energy storage battery orders continues to climb. The rapid expansion of AI computing infrastructure this year has further fueled an order surge in the storage battery sector, boosting lithium battery exports overall.

Amidst this overseas demand growth, Zhaoqing's lithium battery industry, led by its anchor companies, is seizing the market opportunity. CATL's H1 2026 financial report shows its power battery system revenue reached 192.125 billion yuan, up 46.02% year-on-year, while energy storage battery system revenue hit 53.261 billion yuan, up 87.54%. Overseas revenue grew 42.35% to 87.129 billion yuan. As a wholly-owned subsidiary, Ruijing Times is not only Zhaoqing's first lithium battery producer to earn AEO高级认证 (AEO高级认证) but also operates the largest energy storage battery production base in South China. By the end of 2025, it had produced nearly 100 GWh of batteries cumulatively.

Leoch International is another battery manufacturer that established an early presence in Zhaoqing. Its products reach over 100 countries and regions worldwide, and the company has been expanding into lithium battery and storage businesses in recent years. The Zhaoqing Leoch facility serves as one of its key production bases, with products distributed globally through its sales network.

Guangdong Fenghua New Energy Co., Ltd. ties its lithium battery exports closely to the consumer electronics sector. It is a crucial supplier of mobile phone battery components for Transsion Holdings, known as the "King of African Phones." In the first half of 2026, Fenghua New Energy reported operating revenue of 735 million yuan, up 34.3% year-on-year, with overseas sales reaching 104 million yuan (14.18% of total revenue), a remarkable 81.30% increase.

One Battery Ignites a City's Transformation

The rapid growth in lithium battery exports is the natural result of years of strategic industrial planning in Zhaoqing. In 2016, the city first designated the new energy vehicle industry as its leading sector, mobilizing land, policy, capital, and talent resources to support it.

In 2017, after seven rounds of in-person negotiations, XPeng Motors chose Zhaoqing's High-tech Zone for its 10-billion-yuan intelligent connected vehicle industrial park, which went into full production in May 2020. To date, over 500,000 vehicles have rolled off the Zhaoqing production line, averaging one car every six minutes.

The Pearl River Delta has long been the heartland of South China's auto manufacturing. By securing a position there, XPeng gains access to mature automotive production support systems. A company representative previously noted that Zhaoqing's extensive network of expressways, railways, and waterways, combined with its location just 50 kilometers from Guangzhou's core urban area, places the R&D center only an hour's drive from the production base, greatly facilitating communication between development and manufacturing teams.

Following XPeng's arrival, Zhaoqing shifted its investment attraction focus to power battery manufacturers. In October 2020, the city made initial contact with CATL, and by February 2021, a formal agreement was signed to build South China's largest lithium battery manufacturing base. This decision deeply intertwined Zhaoqing's future with the new energy vehicle and storage industries, making it one of the few cities in China with both vehicle assembly and power battery production capabilities.

In 2025, Zhaoqing conducted targeted investment promotion around anchor companies like XPeng and Ruijing Times, securing 496 supporting projects with a planned investment of 159.587 billion yuan. Companies such as Changzhou Jushi New Energy, Adient Automotive Seating, Helinye Power Batteries, Baihui New Materials, Tianming New Energy Technology, and Zhenyu Auto Parts have all established operations in the city. Zhaoqing now boasts a fairly comprehensive industrial system covering new energy vehicle assembly, motors, batteries, electronic controls, and related components.

New energy storage has consequently become a vital pillar of Zhaoqing's industrial landscape, with battery manufacturing, production equipment, and recycling operations advancing in tandem, continuously refining and extending the supply chain.

Some companies have been drawn in by Zhaoqing's growing reputation. Putailai, CATL's largest coating film processing supplier, has invested three times in separator coating production and lithium equipment manufacturing projects since its arrival in 2021. Jiyang Intelligent, which manufactures production equipment and automated lines for lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors with CATL as its primary customer, signed on in 2021 to build a power battery production equipment base.

Others have transformed locally. Huafeng New Energy, rooted in Zhaoqing for nearly three decades, pivoted its R&D focus in 2023 toward new materials like coated aluminum foil, coated copper foil, and etched high-energy aluminum foil, products widely used in power and storage batteries.

A single battery is triggering a qualitative change in Zhaoqing, with industrial synergies becoming increasingly evident. Ruijing Times batteries power XPeng vehicles; Fenghua Advanced Technology's capacitors and resistors find wide application in automotive electronics and BMS systems; and materials recycled by Jinsheng re-enter the industrial cycle, forming a closed loop of "power battery - new energy vehicle - battery recycling."

For Guangdong province, Zhaoqing's stature in the new energy vehicle and storage sectors is growing steadily. It has been designated as a key city for the province's new energy vehicle industry cluster, positioned as both a main and supporting hub. Furthermore, it is identified as an energy storage battery industry agglomeration area on the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary and a manufacturing base for lithium battery separators.

One battery has, in this way, rewritten the industrial DNA of an entire city, carving out an irreplaceable niche for Zhaoqing on the Greater Bay Area's new energy map.