On the afternoon of May 13th, under the spotlight of the 2026 CIBF (China International Battery Fair), lithium battery giant Sunwoda made a significant appearance. For most industry observers accustomed to associating it with consumer electronics and electric vehicles, this may be a cognitive refresh. Zheng Chenhang, head of Sunwoda’s marine battery business, took the stage and delivered a keynote speech titled “Global Ship Electrification and Sunwoda’s Exploration.”
This is more than just a technology roadshow. As the global shipping industry seeks a way out between carbon tax expectations and new emission regulations, and as the “oil-to-electric” conversion of inland and coastal vessels moves from policy slogans to commercial implementation, Sunwoda is proving to the market: a battery system that can safely and efficiently withstand salt spray and humidity, and operate stably in enclosed cabins for over a decade, is the true “ballast stone” for this trillion-dollar green waterway. From tentative exploration in 2019 to now possessing dual-track cell self-development capabilities and multiple implemented projects, Sunwoda’s “going to sea” story is a typical microcosm of Chinese manufacturing enterprises breaking through to the upper reaches of the industrial chain.
Non-Automotive Logic: Ships Don’t Need Batteries “Moved Onboard”
The easiest path for ship electrification is to “move” automotive batteries “onboard.” But Sunwoda quickly found this to be a dead end.
“The requirements and regulations for batteries in ships and cars are almost two completely different systems,” Zheng Chenhang emphasized during an exchange with the author before the meeting. A ship’s design life is 20-30 years, far exceeding that of a car; its operating environment involves continuous high humidity, salt spray, and enclosed cabins, where any negligence in thermal management can lead to catastrophic thermal runaway, resulting in far greater safety liability than in cars; more critically, inland cargo ships and sightseeing boats require extreme cost-effectiveness and long cycle life, while law enforcement boats and workboats need instantaneous high-power discharge capability and rapid recharging.
This extreme fragmentation of scenarios forces Sunwoda to define differentiation starting from the cell level, rather than simply taking products from existing energy storage or automotive production lines. What was systematically showcased at this CIBF exhibition is precisely this “dual-track” solution: an energy-type solution composed of 314Ah cells, and a power-type solution composed of 268Ah cells.
The 314Ah cell and its 16kWh LFP battery pack are products Sunwoda has honed for low-speed, high-energy scenarios. It pursues ultra-high cycle life at a low 0.5C rate to meet the extreme cost-per-kWh demands of sightseeing boats, cargo ships, and tugboats. The 268Ah cell, on the other hand, is a “sharp blade” in Sunwoda’s ship electrification arsenal. This cell, already mass-validated in the commercial vehicle sector, has been given a new maritime mission. Its greatest technical feature is achieving 15-minute fast charging (10%-80% SOC) and adapting to high-rate discharge needs for ultra-fast boats. For workboats long plagued by “two hours of charging, fifteen minutes of sailing,” the 268Ah’s recharging efficiency and power output capability directly address the industry’s pain point.
A more fundamental difference lies in thermal management logic. Facing the huge thermal runaway risks posed by high temperature, high humidity, and enclosed cabins on ships, the industry’s mainstream air-cooled design is struggling with temperature control efficiency and temperature uniformity. Sunwoda’s solution is to directly apply a dimensionality reduction strike using the 314Ah liquid-cooled battery pack. Through liquid cooling design, the battery system can more efficiently control the temperature within a friendly range, significantly improving /discharge efficiency and reducing thermal runaway risk. This choice benchmarks automotive-grade safety standards, aiming to resolve the most critical safety anxiety for ships.
From Confucius Temple to 10,000-ton Ships: Commercial Validation and “Academic” Support
Technical parameters are capabilities on paper, but Sunwoda is solidifying these capabilities into tangible project assets.
Looking at Sunwoda’s ship project list reveals a clear commercialization trajectory. As early as February 2021, sightseeing boats at the Nanjing Confucius Temple scenic area adopted its 142Ah cells, using 120kWh of electricity as a power source, quietly embarking on their water journey. In January of the following year, two 10,000-ton sand carriers in Dongguan were launched, each equipped with Sunwoda’s 1150kWh battery system, undergoing tests in the harsher environment of marine energy storage.
If these two early projects were “stars of the past night,” the cases currently underway truly reveal Sunwoda’s determination to sail into deeper waters. In Jiaxing, a 16.6-meter pure electric yacht is under construction at Zhejiang Hedong Shipyard, expected to be delivered in July 2026. This yacht is equipped with Sunwoda’s self-developed 314Ah 16kWh LFP battery pack, with a total capacity of 380kWh, and will become a sample for a new generation of high-end electric boats.
In the Pearl River water system, a project with even greater significance as an industry bellwether has also commenced. On February 6, 2026, construction began on two 3,000-ton methanol hybrid container ships in Qingyuan, Guangdong. This project pioneers a “methanol replenishment + electric drive” model. Its core electric drive part is precisely the 268Ah 88kWh LFP battery system provided by Sunwoda. It directly targets the core pain point of range anxiety for pure electric ships, representing an important commercial exploration of the hybrid technology route.
It is noteworthy that Sunwoda is not unilaterally “building ships behind closed doors.” It is actively promoting deep integration of industry, academia, and research, collaborating with Dalian Maritime University to jointly develop new energy yacht projects. The intention behind this move is clear: to combine cutting-edge battery technology with top-tier scientific research advantages in the marine engineering field, creating demonstrative benchmarks in the high-end green boat sector. Meanwhile, cooperation with Shenzhen Hasby Company is also exploring more diversified scenarios such as pure electric high-speed sightseeing boats and diesel-electric hybrid rescue multi-purpose vessels. Additionally, Sunwoda will announce commercial and technical cooperation with several key upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain. Sunwoda is building a stable iron triangle for its marine battery system, spanning from theory to technical validation and then to commercial promotion.
Full-Stack Integration: Being the Ship’s “Energy Subsystem,” Not a Battery Seller
Sunwoda’s true moat in the marine field may not lie in the energy density of a particular cell, but in its ambition not to stop at “selling batteries.”
“Our core approach is not to ‘move’ land-based batteries ‘onboard,’ but to redo system integration based on ship operating conditions,” Sunwoda stated. This implies a complete energy subsystem, encompassing the entire chain from cells, BMS to liquid cooling, pressure relief, fire protection, and data visualization and remote monitoring on the bridge side. The keyword for this integration capability is coupling, making “the battery, as the energy heart, work together with the ship’s operating system.”
Supporting this full-stack capability is Sunwoda’s vertical integrated manufacturing ability, from cells, modules, battery packs, battery clusters to containerized energy storage systems. Its self-developed three-tier architecture BMS (BMU+BCMU+LCU) is deeply interfaced with the /EMS, covering over 20 fault protections, with BMU response speed ≤300μs, and supporting fault isolation and predictive maintenance. Facing vastly different space and power requirements across various ship types, Sunwoda can intervene early in the design phase, flexibly configuring energy from tens of kWh to several MWh.
This value positioning as a battery system integrator allows it to be compatible with various power forms like pure electric and hybrid, and support “ship, storage” shared battery packs. For example, one system can both drive the propeller during navigation and provide energy storage services for the ship or port when docked. The resulting economic benefits are quite attractive to cost-conscious shipowners.
Delivery capability is the final link in the commercial closed loop. Sunwoda has multiple fully automated production lines, with cell yield rate ≥96% and PACK yield rate >99.5%, ensuring the stringent consistency requirements for marine batteries. Relying on global production bases in China (Shenzhen, Nanjing, Zaozhuang, etc.), Europe (Hungary), and Southeast Asia (India, Vietnam), its standard battery pack delivery cycle is approximately 6 months, and customized full-cabin systems approximately 12 months, strictly implementing the full set of certification documents and test reports required by classification societies like CCS.
Conclusion:
Classification society certification is a Damocles sword hanging over the marine battery industry, and also a moat for early entrants. Currently, Sunwoda’s 314Ah and 268Ah cells, along with the supporting BMS, have all obtained China Classification Society (CCS) certification, which is the key to opening the door to the mainstream domestic ship market. Lower-tier products, such as sightseeing boats under 5 meters that temporarily do not require certification, provide a channel for rapid volume deployment of its products. CCS certification at the battery pack level is being actively pursued, expected to be granted around June this year. Once this piece of the puzzle is filled, Sunwoda will build a complete certification system from cells to systems.
From laying out the strategy in 2019, using 142Ah cells to obtain classification society certification as a tentative move, to today exhibiting a fully self-developed dual-technology route battery system, Sunwoda’s exploration in ship electrification follows a familiar script for Chinese manufacturing: using vertical integration capabilities to compress costs and ensure supply, using scenario-defined capabilities to capture markets and build benchmarks, and finally using full-stack system integration capabilities to build high barriers. As the global shipping industry turns towards new energy under the baton of emission reduction, this massive and conservative industrial chain urgently needs “key suppliers” capable of providing integrated solutions from the “heart” to the “nervous system.” Sunwoda’s “going to sea” is sailing towards an even broader commercial blue ocean.
