In-Depth Analysis of Li Auto's In-House Battery: Not About Saving Money, but Achieving Triple Integration

Li Auto is undergoing a transformation from a battery buyer to a battery definer. In a recent exchange with Leiphone and other media outlets, Li Auto President and Chief Engineer Ma Donghui, Senior Vice President of Vehicle Electric R&D Liu Liguo, and CEO of Shandong Li Auto Battery Co., Ltd. Liu Zhimin systematically addressed external questions about in-house battery development for the first time.

Why Does Li Auto Insist on Making Its Own Batteries?

Ma Donghui traced this question back ten years. When Li Auto chose the extended-range route back then, it was equally unpopular, but it was the only solution at the time to address users' charging anxiety. Today, the logic behind in-house battery development follows the same line—without making batteries, there's no talk of a true energy strategy.

Li Auto's battery布局 was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. As early as 2015, an internal battery R&D team was formed; in 2019, it jointly developed and launched the industry's first extended-range large battery with CATL; in 2020, the 5C ultra-fast charging battery was officially project-approved; in June 2026, the new L8 will be the first to carry in-house developed and manufactured batteries. From extended-range to pure electric, six models completed the switch within a year.

Currently, Li Auto's in-house battery team is about 300 people strong, with 75% holding master's or doctoral degrees. Battery laboratories have been established in Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou, with nearly 4,000 patents applied for and granted. Ma Donghui emphasized that this is a continuation of a long-term strategy, not a choice driven by cost or suppliers.

The Real Value of In-House Development: Triple Integration

Liu Liguo summarized the core value of in-house batteries as "triple integration."

The first is full-chain integration from production to service. In Li Auto's Lianshan system, it's possible to achieve full-chain connectivity from upstream materials at supplier production lines, cell manufacturing processes, to PACK, to vehicle assembly lines, and finally to user usage data and charging experience data, ultimately connecting to the service system. In the past, this chain was broken in the middle; as an OEM, one could only see vehicle-end parameters, and many front-end issues were masked layer by layer.

The second is integration at the vehicle system level. There is deep parameter coupling between the battery and systems like electric drive, electronic control, and charging piles. Only with in-house cell development can one start from the underlying material characteristics and truly optimize the battery in tandem with the vehicle's core systems.

The third is integration of the after-sales service system. Under the traditional division of labor, users often had to communicate back and forth between the OEM, battery supplier, and service system. With in-house cells, users only need to contact Li Auto, and Li Auto is responsible for diagnosis, resolution, and service.

Ma Donghui specifically mentioned that Li Auto's Extended-Range 3.0 achieved a maintenance interval of three years or 30,000 kilometers, which has no precedent in the industry and cannot be bought through procurement alone.

Technology Route Choice: Why Skip 6C and 12C to Pre-Research 15C Directly

On the evolution path of ultra-fast charging technology, Li Auto made a rather controversial choice.

Liu Zhimin revealed that for the next generation, Li Auto began advancing 15C ultra-fast charging technology last year. It has now achieved 15C capability, and vehicles equipped with 15C batteries are undergoing road tests. They did not follow the industry's 6C, 8C, 10C, because reducing charging time from 10 minutes to 8 minutes doesn't significantly improve user perception, but the cost is high—both the battery system and charging stations need upgrades. The goal is directly defined as 15C: reducing charging time from 10 minutes to under 5 minutes.

On the cell technology route, Li Auto chose "reducing internal resistance" rather than "improving heat resistance." Liu Liguo explained that the heat generation formula is P=I²R; the faster the charge, the higher the current. Continuously improving heat resistance is like building ever-higher dams, which is unreliable in the long run.

Regarding solid-state batteries, Liu Zhimin gave a relatively conservative assessment: it is still in the technical攻克 stage, with scientific and engineering bottlenecks in three core issues: lifespan, charging performance, and cost. He predicts that solid-state batteries will only gradually gain penetration in passenger vehicles after 2032, and even then, penetration may be below 1%.

What the C-rate (C-rate) means: In the battery field, "C" is the unit of charge/discharge rate. 1C means the battery fully charges or discharges its rated capacity in 1 hour, and nC means n times that current intensity. Therefore, 5C theoretically corresponds to about 12 minutes from low to high charge, and 15C to about 4 minutes. The higher the rate, the greater the Joule heat generated by the cell's internal resistance (P=I²R), placing exponential demands on cell materials, electrode structures, electrolytes, and thermal management systems. This is why the industry typically evolves step by step through 2C, 4C, 6C—each step up requires redoing cell design and thermal management. Li Auto's choice to skip intermediate tiers is essentially a judgment that the marginal experience improvement from 10 minutes to 8 minutes is not enough to cover the cost of全面 upgrading the battery system and charging stations, thus directly targeting a "refueling-level" charging experience within 5 minutes.

In-House Development Isn't Necessarily Cheaper Than Outsourcing

Ma Donghui rarely admitted: in-house costs are not lower than outsourcing. Just the annual R&D investment is a significant figure. But he offered four directions for cost optimization: ensuring production line utilization, reducing waste in manufacturing costs, shifting from passive response to proactive layout in raw materials, and unifying warehousing and logistics standards.

In terms of business model, Li Auto chose a combination of in-house PACK development and manufacturing plus in-house cell development with contract manufacturing. PACK is developed and manufactured in-house because it is highly coupled with the vehicle chassis and drive system, and carries the BMS software and hardware system—the key carrier for data integration. Cells are developed in-house but manufactured by contract partners; the chemical system and cell structure are developed by Li Auto, while production is handled by Sunwoda and CALB.

Ma Donghui used an analogy to explain the logic: silicon carbide chips are developed in-house but manufactured by TSMC; controllers are made in-house but the SMT process is outsourced to professional manufacturers. In-house manufacturing and in-house development with contract manufacturing are not a simple binary opposition, but a series of specific choices based on strategic judgment.

The division boundary between PACK and cells: PACK (battery pack) refers to integrating cells, modules, BMS (battery management system), thermal management system, structural components, and high-voltage connectors into a complete battery pack ready for vehicle installation. Cells are the energy units inside the PACK, while the PACK directly couples with the vehicle chassis, drive system, and BMS software and hardware. There are two common industry models: one is directly purchasing complete battery packs, with the OEM only doing interface adaptation; the other is in-house PACK development with outsourced cells. Li Auto adopts a third combination: "in-house PACK development and manufacturing + in-house cell development with contract manufacturing," where the chemical system and cell structure are defined by Li Auto, and manufacturing is entrusted to Sunwoda and CALB. This division allows Li Auto to掌握 the underlying parameter definition rights of cells while avoiding heavy asset investment in building cell production lines, consistent with the logic of "in-house chip development, manufacturing outsourced to TSMC."

Will Users Hesitate Due to Battery Brand Switching?

This is the market's biggest concern. For the same car with two battery versions, will users hesitate? Ma Donghui's response: no significant fluctuations; instead, some users proactively reached out hoping to switch production scheduling as soon as possible.

Regarding the 2025 MEGA battery recall incident, Ma Donghui did not avoid it: it is Li Auto's responsibility. Regardless of which partner manufactured the battery, Li Auto as the automaker bears the responsibility first. But he also emphasized that in-house development is a long-term strategy; it's impossible to make a temporary decision due to last year's incident and achieve it on this year's vehicles.

On brand promotion strategy, Liu Liguo's attitude is clear: when technology is in its early stages, To C promotion has value; but if the technology is relatively mature and stable, it ultimately returns to the driving experience itself. Ma Donghui added that if there is a budget, he would prefer to invest in things that truly create value for users, rather than brand promotion.

Li Auto's in-house battery journey is essentially a redefinition of "who is responsible for the final experience." When batteries shift from standard products to system components, the question automakers need to answer is no longer "whose batteries to use," but "what kind of car to build."

The penetration threshold for solid-state batteries: Solid-state batteries refer to battery systems that replace traditional liquid electrolytes with solid electrolytes, theoretically offering higher energy density and better safety. However, their commercialization requires solving three issues simultaneously: insufficient cycle life, limited high-rate charging performance, and manufacturing costs far higher than liquid lithium batteries. Currently, most industry players are still in the semi-solid or sample validation stage, and mass production processes for all-solid-state have not yet been finalized. Liu Zhimin's judgment of "penetration below 1% after 2032" means that in the mainstream passenger vehicle market, liquid lithium-ion batteries will remain the absolute mainstay for the next decade, and ultra-fast charging, lifespan, and cost optimization will still be the main battleground for automakers.

One-line Summary

Li Auto systematically responds to its in-house battery strategy for the first time, transforming from buyer to definer, implementing triple integration and pre-researching 15C ultra-fast charging.

Paragraph Summary

Li Auto President Ma Donghui, Senior Vice President of Vehicle Electric R&D Liu Liguo, and CEO of Shandong Li Auto Battery Liu Zhimin systematically addressed questions about in-house batteries for the first time. The logic continues the extended-range strategy, with布局 as early as 2015, and the new L8 in June 2026 will be the first to carry in-house developed and manufactured batteries. The core value is "triple integration": full-chain from production to service, vehicle system parameter coupling, and unified after-sales service responsibility. On the technology route, it skips 6C to 10C, directly pre-researching 15C ultra-fast charging with a target of under 5 minutes, and chooses to reduce internal resistance rather than improve heat resistance. Ma Donghui admits in-house costs may not be lower than outsourcing, with optimization directions including production line utilization, manufacturing losses, raw material layout, and logistics standardization. The business model is in-house PACK development and manufacturing + in-house cell development with contract manufacturing, with partners Sunwoda and CALB. Solid-state batteries are expected to gain penetration only after 2032, at around 1% or less.