Battery Testing Industry Enters a New Wave of Green and Intelligent Upgrading
Recently, as a series of mandatory national standards have been rolled out, cutting-edge testing technologies have accelerated breakthroughs, and application scenarios for lithium batteries and energy-storage batteries continue to expand, China’s battery testing industry is undergoing a comprehensive upgrade. Market size is rising steadily, and industry development is shifting from “scale expansion” to “quality improvement.” Greener and more intelligent solutions are becoming the core trajectory. As a critical safeguard within the battery value chain, battery testing not only affects end-product safety and user experience, but also serves as a key enabler for green industrial upgrading and global market compliance.
Policies Are Becoming More Robust, Strengthening the Foundation for Standardized Industry Growth
In recent months, policy efforts have intensified, creating a comprehensive framework that combines regulation and support.
In August 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), together with the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and other authorities, issued the mandatory national standard “Requirements for the Restricted Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Products” (GB 26572—2025). The standard sets mandatory limit requirements for four heavy metals (including lead and mercury) and six categories of persistent organic pollutants in batteries. It also adds controls on four phthalate substances, while standardizing testing methods and disclosure/labeling requirements. This pushes China’s battery testing framework further into alignment with international standards and helps electrical and electronic products overcome export compliance barriers.
Meanwhile, MIIT has indicated that the mandatory national standard “Safety Technical Specification for Portable Power Banks” is scheduled for official release in Q1 2026. The new specification will tighten several battery test requirements, introduce safety tests after cycle aging, and add requirements related to intelligent monitoring functions—further filling gaps in standards for segmented application areas.
On the support side, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has included portable battery testing equipment in key catalogs for strategic emerging industries, enabling tax incentives. Local governments in regions such as Shenzhen and Jiangsu have also introduced supporting policies including R&D subsidies and industrialization support, continuing to stimulate enterprise innovation.
Multi-Point Technological Breakthroughs Are Tackling Core Testing Challenges
Domestic research teams and companies are advancing together, making notable progress in frontier directions such as internal monitoring and in-situ testing. This is driving testing technology from “external observation” toward “internal traceability.”
A team led by Professor Chen Haosen at Beijing Institute of Technology has developed a non-destructive, implantable intelligent sensing system for single battery cells, enabling long-term stable measurement and wireless transmission of internal signals. The solution addresses long-standing bottlenecks of conventional implantable approaches—such as compromised sealing and limited signal transmission—allowing earlier detection of internal abnormalities and significantly improving battery safety. The related results were published in Nature.
In addition, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), together with the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed an in-situ expansion-force monitoring technique for lithium-ion batteries. By using the battery’s own electrolyte to construct a sensing interface, the method can accurately capture safety risks such as lithium dendrite deposition. Its low-cost and long-life characteristics make it suitable for multi-scenario use, including in-vehicle applications.
At the same time, automation and intelligent technologies are being widely adopted. AI-driven CT inspection systems are rapidly gaining traction. In 2024, the global battery CT inspection market reached RMB 4.08 billion, and is projected to approach RMB 7.83 billion by 2031, representing a 10.0% CAGR, significantly improving the efficiency and accuracy of micro-defect detection.
Expanding Downstream Demand Is Supporting Steady Market Growth
Driven by vigorous growth in downstream industries, demand for battery testing is expanding in diverse directions.
Data shows that in 2025, China’s digital battery tester market reached RMB 1.763 billion, while the global market is expected to grow to RMB 12.227 billion by 2032, at a 7.34% CAGR. Demand growth is mainly driven by three sectors:
Rising lithium battery shipments: In 2024, China’s lithium battery shipments reached 1,175 GWh, up 32.6% year-on-year. Rapid growth in new energy vehicles and energy storage is driving a surge in demand for high-power, high-precision testing equipment.
Upgrading consumer electronics: Wider adoption of 5G smartphones, wearables, and TWS earbuds—along with expansion in secondhand electronics trading and device repair markets—is boosting demand for portable testing equipment.
Green development and recycling: As battery recycling systems improve, battery health assessment and hazardous substance testing have become necessary steps, further broadening testing scenarios.
Regionally, East China and South China remain the core markets, together accounting for over 60% of sales. At the same time, procurement in third- and fourth-tier cities and county-level markets is maintaining double-digit growth, emerging as a new growth engine for the industry.
Four Key Directions Will Shape Future Evolution
Industry observers note that the battery testing sector is currently in an overlapping phase of policy dividends and technological innovation. As standards continue to improve and core technologies keep advancing, industry concentration is expected to rise further. Looking ahead, the future of battery testing will likely evolve around four core directions: higher precision, greater intelligence, full life-cycle coverage, and greener methods—forming a more forward-looking support system for the battery industry.
Deeper internal traceability and higher precision: Moving beyond the limitations of external monitoring, technologies represented by the non-destructive implantable sensing system developed by Professor Chen Haosen’s team are expected to further mature a framework that “measures accurately, implants effectively, transmits reliably, and applies efficiently.” Combined with methods such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), future systems may enable real-time precise monitoring of internal parameters—temperature, strain, impedance—addressing early identification of key safety risks such as lithium dendrite growth and electrode cracking, and truly opening the “black box” inside batteries.
Comprehensive intelligent integration: AI, digital twins, and big data will become deeply coupled with testing. On one hand, AI algorithms will improve defect recognition accuracy in CT and ultrasonic inspection. On the other, “digital twin batteries” will be built, using multi-scale simulation software to analyze “battery fingerprints,” enabling accurate state prediction and intelligent warning. EIS is also expected to integrate with battery management systems (BMS) to enable online, real-time testing under operating conditions—reducing monitoring lag and lowering O&M costs.
Full life-cycle testing coverage: The industry will move to overcome disconnection among R&D, production, and recycling testing stages, building an end-to-end system spanning material screening, cell manufacturing, operational monitoring in vehicle/energy-storage scenarios, and retired battery health assessment and second-life evaluation. Enabled by non-destructive testing and data traceability, testing data across stages will become interconnected, supporting full life-cycle battery management.
Green testing practices becoming standard: Testing will shift toward lower power consumption, non-destructive approaches, and environmentally friendly methods. Hazardous substance testing will be optimized to reduce pollutant emissions during testing, while precision testing will improve recycling efficiency—supporting China’s “dual-carbon” goals.
As these trends take hold, battery testing technologies will become more deeply integrated with the broader battery industry, while also strengthening alignment with international standards—helping China’s battery testing sector achieve higher-quality development and compete for a leading position in global industrial competition.