CATL debuts e-commerce platform for direct sales to small buyers, as competition sharpens

The platform allows for direct online sales to smaller energy storage buyers

China’s battery king Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) is enabling direct sales to smaller energy storage system makers via its own e-commerce platform, as competition with its domestic peers intensifies.

The platform, officially launched on Friday, would offer orders as small as three boxes of its energy storage products, according to a social media post by the firm.

CATL is currently the world’s largest producer of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

The platform, which allowed small buyers to skip distributors, was currently used by over 1,800 energy storage companies, which were acquired during beta testing, the firm said in the post.

The battery giant also said that the small orders would qualify for a five-year quality warranty, the same as it provides for its larger purchasers, and that the delivery period would be within three to five days.

“[The e-commerce platform] is probably also to address the potential demand in distributed solar, to bundle with battery energy storage systems, from the residential and small commercial users,” said Zhang, as the spread of price hours driven by China’s power market reform was expected to increase the needs from smaller users.