As of late 2025, cumulative shipments of CATL’s 587Ah platform have exceeded 2 GWh.CATL
Recent data from Morgan Stanley Research indicates that Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) exhibits the lowest battery degradation among industry competitors.
Real-world testing involving 12 electric vehicle models and 100 sample batteries across four major Chinese cities showed that after 2 million kilometers (1.25 million miles) of operation, CATL batteries retained approximately 400 km (250 miles) of range. In comparison, competitor cells retained 350 km (218 miles) or less under the same conditions.
This data comes as Morgan Stanley forecasts global energy storage installations to reach 600 GWh in 2025, with a further increase to over 900 GWh in 2026. Controlling battery degradation is identified as a critical factor in developing a competitive dollar-per-cycle product.
Technical advantage is consistent
The study specifically noted that Models 11 and 12, which use CATL battery technology, showed significantly slower degradation than vehicles with other suppliers. This technical advantage is consistent with previous field performance data from the Zhangbei National Wind-Solar-Storage Demonstration Project.
In that project, CATL was the only of the four lithium iron phosphate (LFP) suppliers whose batteries remained in operation without replacement for 14 years. Recovered cells from this site maintained over 90% residual capacity, and identical test cells achieved more than 6,000 full charge-discharge cycles.
These findings support the long-term viability of the technology in large-scale energy infrastructure.
Further historical data shows that CATL deployed an LFP battery with more than 12,000 cycles in Jinjiang in 2020. This system is projected to remain operational for more than 20 years at a usage rate of 1.5 to 2 cycles per day.
Managing degradation is now considered a primary indicator for assessing the quality of both individual battery cells and broader energy storage systems. To address this, CATL began mass production of its 587Ah energy storage cell in June 2025.
This cell is designed to balance degradation control, safety, and system-level efficiency rather than focusing solely on increasing the physical size of the battery.
Manufacturing for these units is concentrated at the Jining base, which utilizes proprietary super-drawing lines. This equipment allows for the production of 20 GWh per year per line, with yields and consistency that surpass those of retrofitted 500Ah+ lines.
The facility is capable of producing over 220,000 cells per day, with cycle times of under 2 seconds per cell.
As reported by Electrek.co, this production method results in a 42% lower production cost compared to previous methods while maintaining safety performance at the parts-per-billion level.
As of late 2025, cumulative shipments of the 587Ah platform have exceeded 2 GWh. The technology has been formally included in the fifth batch of major energy technology equipment in China.
These developments reflect an industry-wide shift toward prioritizing long-term system value and cycle life. As global demand for energy storage continues to rise through 2026, the ability to manufacture high-capacity cells with proven resistance to degradation remains a central focus for the automotive and energy sectors.
The data suggests that current manufacturing benchmarks are shifting toward high-throughput, low-cost production models that do not compromise the operational lifespan of the battery system.
