a core component, the electric two-wheeler battery market is undergoing a significant transformation. For a long time, lead-acid batteries dominated the market, but this has now changed, evolving into a diversified competitive landscape with lead-acid, lithium-ion, and sodium-ion batteries forming a three-way balance of power.
This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Chinese electric two-wheeler battery market industry, aiming to reveal its evolutionary path under the influence of multiple driving forces and predict its future development trends.
Overview of Electric Two-Wheeler Market in China
Market Size and Growth Trend
For a long time, the growth in electric two-wheeler sales was mainly driven by urbanization, worsening urban traffic congestion, and consumers’ urgent need for convenient travel. However, the market environment is quietly changing. Currently and in the coming years, the driving force behind electric two-wheeler sales growth is gradually shifting from traditional factors to new directions.
On the one hand, the introduction and implementation of the new national standard policy has spurred mandatory replacement demand for existing vehicles; on the other hand, the rise of emerging business models such as on-demand delivery and shared electric bicycles has brought new incremental demand to the market. As the world’s largest electric two-wheeler market, China’s massive size and continuous growth provide a solid foundation for the two-wheeler battery market industry.
According to estimates, electric two-wheeler sales reached 49.2 million units in 2024, and are projected to reach 57.483 million units in 2025 and 62.487 million units in 2026, representing year-on-year growth rates of 16.8% and 8.7%, respectively.
Classification of Electric Two-Wheeled Vehicles
According to the prospectus of Luyuan Group, electric two-wheeled vehicles can be divided into three categories based on price: entry-level, mid-range, and high-end. Entry-level vehicles are priced below 1500 yuan, generally equipped with lead-acid batteries, resulting in lower range and slower charging speeds. Their market share is projected to be 18.25% in 2025.
Mid-range vehicles are priced between 1500 and 3500 yuan, equipped with lithium batteries or high-capacity lead-acid batteries. Their market share is projected to be 77.22% in 2025.
High-end vehicles are priced above 3500 yuan, primarily using lithium batteries, offering longer range, faster charging speeds, and typically incorporating more advanced artificial intelligence technology. Their market share is projected to be 4.53% in 2025. The compound annual growth rate of high-end electric two-wheeled vehicle sales is significantly higher than that of low-end and mid-range models.
Analysis of Key Growth Drivers
The continued prosperity of the electric two-wheeler market is the result of multiple factors:
Policy and regulations: The implementation of the new national standard has set strict vehicle parameter standards, leading to the elimination of a large number of non-compliant vehicles. This has stimulated huge demand for replacement of existing vehicles, becoming a key driver of the market’s explosive growth in the short term.
Rise of commercial scenarios: The rapid rise of on-demand delivery and retail businesses, represented by food delivery vehicles, has brought new growth points to the electric two-wheeler market. These commercial users have higher requirements for vehicle range, charging efficiency, and battery cycle life, thus promoting the advancement of battery technology and the development of battery swapping models. At the same time, the accelerated deployment of shared electric bicycles as an emerging urban mobility solution has also provided strong impetus for the increase in the production and sales volume of electric two-wheelers.
Consumption upgrading and product high-end evolution: With the improvement of consumers’ income levels and their pursuit of a better quality of life, electric two-wheelers are no longer just a means of transportation. The growing demand from users for intelligent and personalized vehicle features is driving the industry towards mid-to-high-end, intelligent, and lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles. Traditional brands are enhancing their brand value by focusing on high-end intelligent lithium-ion electric vehicles, while emerging brands are primarily expanding their distribution channels by seizing market share.
Analysis of Electric Two-Wheeler Battery Technology
Lead-acid Batteries
Lead-acid batteries have long dominated the electric two-wheeler market, primarily due to their comprehensive cost-effectiveness and safety characteristics. Firstly, they offer a significant cost advantage, with a unit energy price only one-third that of lithium batteries. Furthermore, their high-current output and adaptability to high and low temperatures have been validated through thirty years of mass production, ensuring stable operation. Secondly, the technology is mature, with a complete supporting industrial chain, and the recycling rate of used batteries consistently exceeds 90%, reducing the total life-cycle cost and aligning with national resource recycling policies.
As of the first half of 2025, lead-acid batteries still accounted for approximately 80% of new electric two-wheeler installations in China, holding an absolute advantage in low-to-mid-range models and price-sensitive markets.
However, lead-acid batteries also face structural shortcomings. Firstly, their energy density is relatively low, increasing weight by 30%-50% compared to lithium batteries under the same range conditions. Secondly, their cycle life is limited, with only 500-1000 deep charge-discharge cycles, resulting in high replacement frequency throughout their lifecycle. Thirdly, there is a risk of lead pollution at the upstream of the industrial chain, and environmental compliance costs are increasing year by year.
Despite the aforementioned constraints, lead-acid batteries continue to penetrate county and township markets due to their controllable costs and high safety redundancy, perfectly aligning with the core demand of mainstream Chinese consumers for high-quality, affordable products. While not the technologically optimal solution at present, it represents a scalable solution that achieves the best balance between economy, reliability, and safety, and will continue to underpin the foundation of green travel for the Chinese people in the short term.
Lithium-ion Batteries
Lithium-ion batteries, with their comprehensive performance advantages, are rapidly replacing lead-acid batteries and have become standard equipment in mid-to-high-end vehicles and commercial scenarios such as car sharing and food delivery. Compared to traditional lead-acid batteries, their energy density reaches 120–180Wh/kg, and their weight is reduced by about two-thirds. Under the same range conditions, the entire pack weighs only 4.7kg, far lower than the 17kg of lead-acid batteries, which can meet the mandatory weight limit requirements of the new national standard for vehicle weight in one go.
At the same time, their cycle life is increased by 2–3 times, they support high-rate fast charging, and their overall cost continues to decline throughout their life cycle, providing key support for vehicle lightweighting and operational model upgrades.
The promotion of lithium batteries is still constrained by two major factors. First, the initial procurement cost is high, with battery packs of the same capacity costing approximately 1.8–2.2 times that of lead-acid batteries, creating a significant barrier to entry for price-sensitive markets. Second, there is the risk of thermal runaway. In the past three years, over 80% of major fires involving electric two-wheelers in China have been traced back to substandard lithium batteries or illegally modified high-capacity battery packs, with illegal dismantling and the lack of certified protection boards being the main contributing factors.
Furthermore, during the aging process, lithium dendrites are prone to precipitate in the battery cells, gradually piercing the separator as the service life increases, leading to an increasing probability of internal short circuits and a time-degrading safety characteristic. Systematic control through automotive-grade battery management systems, thermal barrier technologies, and a tiered recycling mechanism is urgently needed.
Sodium-ion Batteries
The core advantage of sodium-ion batteries lies in the effective balance between technology and cost. From a cost perspective, sodium batteries have a significant cost advantage compared to lithium batteries. This is mainly due to the extremely abundant reserves of sodium, its primary raw material, in the Earth’s crust, unlike lithium resources which are geographically concentrated and thus experience frequent and significant price fluctuations. In terms of safety, sodium batteries exhibit higher inherent safety characteristics.
Specifically, sodium batteries do not produce dendrite formation during charging and discharging. This characteristic makes their aging safety during long-term use significantly better than lithium batteries, effectively reducing the safety risks caused by battery aging. Furthermore, sodium batteries also boast impressive performance. Their low-temperature performance and fast-charging performance are superior to lithium batteries, greatly improving the ease of use and user experience of electric two-wheelers, further enhancing their competitiveness in the market.
However, the limitations of sodium batteries cannot be ignored. The most prominent drawback is that their energy density is generally lower than that of lithium batteries. Due to this limitation, sodium batteries are currently more suitable for applications with relatively low range requirements, such as low-speed electric vehicles, entry-level electric vehicles, and electric two-wheelers. Despite challenges, the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries is progressing steadily. Currently, industry giants such as CATL, BYD, and HiNa Battery are actively deploying resources to promote the industrial application of sodium-ion batteries.
Specifically, CATL has announced that its sodium-ion batteries will be first industrialized in Chery models. BYD has reached cooperation agreements with two-wheeled vehicle OEMs such as Tailg and Zonsen, and plans to conduct pilot projects in Shenzhen on the charging and swapping applications of large cylindrical sodium-ion batteries in electric two-wheeled vehicles, actively exploring application models for sodium-ion batteries in the two-wheeled vehicle sector.
However, considering the current relatively low maturity of the sodium-ion battery industry chain, there are still many areas that need improvement in raw material supply, production processes, and equipment support. Industry insiders generally predict that in the next five years, the market share of sodium-ion batteries in the electric two-wheeled vehicle sector will remain at a low level, with lead-acid and lithium batteries remaining the mainstream.
The following is a technical comparison of lead-acid, lithium-ion, and sodium-ion batteries:
Impact of Policies on the Two-Wheeler Battery Industry Market Landscape
| Features | Lead-acid battery | Lithium-ion battery | Sodium-ion battery |
| Cost | Minimum | Higher efficiency | Huge potential (expected to be cheaper than lithium-ion batteries) |
| Energy density | 28-40Wh/kg | 120-180 h/kg | Less than lithium-ion batteries |
| Cycle life | 500-1000 cycles | Over 1000 cycles | 3000-5000 cycles |
| Safety | Extremely high, will not catch fire or explode | Relatively poor, flammable and explosive | Higher performance, no dendrite formation |
| Weight | Heavy | Lightweight | Lightweight |
| Charging speed | Relatively slow | Fast-acting | Fast charging |
| Raw materials | Lead, sulfuric acid | Lithium | Sodium |
The New National Standard Shapes a New Industry Order
The implementation of the new national standard (GB 17761-2024) has had a significant impact on the electric two-wheeler industry. This standard imposes strict limits on key parameters of electric bicycles, such as maximum speed, overall weight, and motor power. The revision of the new standard has opened up new space for the lead-acid battery industry, raising the upper limit of the overall weight of electric bicycles using lead-acid batteries to 63 kg, an increase of 8 kg.
This adjustment allows lead-acid batteries to be upgraded from 48V12Ah to 48V20Ah, thereby significantly extending the range of electric bicycles from approximately 40 kilometers to 70 kilometers, basically meeting the daily travel needs of most consumers.
At the same time, the strict regulations of the new national standard have also acted as a market purifier. It has prompted smaller, technologically backward companies to gradually exit the market, making room for the development of new battery technologies. Against this backdrop, leading two-wheeler battery companies, with their deep technological accumulation and strong R&D capabilities, are expected to transform their technological advantages into solid competitive barriers, further consolidate and expand their market share, and thus accelerate the increase in the concentration of the entire electric two-wheeled vehicle industry.
Trade-in Program Stimulates Purchases and Market Rebalancing
The trade-in program is another policy measure that has a significant impact on the electric two-wheeler industry, following the “new national standard.” Previously, the Ministry of Commerce and other departments jointly issued an implementation plan for the trade-in program, the core of which is to stimulate consumption potential through subsidies.
It is worth noting that the details of the subsidy plan release some signals: for example, the Beijing implementation rules explicitly stipulate that consumers who trade in old lithium-ion battery electric bicycles and purchase lead-acid battery electric bicycles will receive an additional subsidy of 100 yuan. The underlying logic of this policy focuses on public safety. In recent years, electric two-wheeler fires have occurred frequently, a significant proportion of which are closely related to illegal modification of lithium batteries or the use of substandard lithium batteries.
Through the subsidy guidance of the trade-in program, the government not only aims to boost consumption but also strives to promote the recycling and replacement of existing non-compliant, high-risk batteries from the source. This measure provides policy endorsement for lead-acid batteries in the core dimension of safety, as they do not inherently pose a fire or explosion risk.
From a market impact perspective, the policy has, to some extent, driven the industry back from “lead-to-lithium” to “lithium replacing lead,” prompting consumers to re-evaluate the balance between price, performance, and safety, thus creating new development opportunities for lead-acid batteries in specific market sectors.
Major Manufacturers and Competitive Landscape Analysis
Battery Manufacturing Giants
In the lead-acid battery sector, market concentration is extremely high, with Tianneng and CHILWEE being the absolute leaders, holding nearly 90% of the domestic lead-acid market share for a long time. These lead-acid giants possess well-established recycling networks and cost advantages, currently focusing primarily on the low-to-mid-end market and collaborating with local policies to promote trade-ins. In the lithium battery market, the competitive landscape is more diversified.
Traditional lithium battery companies specializing in two-wheeled vehicles, such as Phylion Battery, have long been established in this sector, but giants from the automotive power battery field are making a strong entry, creating a disruptive impact on the market. CATL and BYD, two leading companies in the global power battery market, are accelerating their penetration into the two-wheeled vehicle sector.
CATL has established deep partnerships with leading two-wheeled vehicle brands such as Ninebot and Yadea through joint ventures like Ampace. BYD, on the other hand, has directly launched two-wheeler battery products and partnered with OEMs such as Tailing, Zonsen, and Lima, beginning channel recruitment for the consumer market. This competition from automotive giants is not only a battle for market share, but also an introduction of automotive-grade R&D funding, technological strength, and superior performance (such as BYD’s blade battery) into the two-wheeled vehicle sector, thereby accelerating industry reshuffling and technological iteration.
The following is the market landscape of major manufacturers of two-wheeler battery in China:
| Market segments | Major manufacturers | Market position and characteristics |
| Lead-acid Batteries | Tianneng、CHILWEE | It occupies an absolute dominant position and has a high degree of market concentration. |
| Lithium Batteries | CATL (Ampace), BYD, Phylion, etc. | Competition is becoming more diversified, with automotive giants (CATL and BYD) entering the market aggressively with their technological advantages, coexisting with traditional two-wheeled vehicle lithium battery companies (Phylion). |
Battery Strategies of Vehicle Manufacturers
In the overall vehicle market, Yadea and Aima have established a dominant position, while emerging brands such as Ninebot and Niu are gradually breaking away from the traditional homogeneous competition model that relies on low prices through differentiated product offerings focused on intelligent, high-end, and lithium-ion batteries. In the two-wheeler battery market supply chain, leading companies generally adopt diversified cooperation strategies to ensure supply chain stability and expand product coverage.
Taking Yadea and Tailg as examples, on the one hand, they continue to cooperate with leading lead-acid battery manufacturers such as Tianneng and CHILWEE to meet the large-scale demand in the low-to-mid-end market; on the other hand, they actively establish strategic partnerships with lithium battery companies such as CATL and BYD to accelerate their entry into the high-end and commercial markets.
This diversified supply system not only enhances the market adaptability of vehicle manufacturers but also creates an orderly competitive landscape among upstream battery manufacturers, thereby promoting the overall optimization and upgrading of the industry chain.
Substitution Trend of Lead-Acid Batteries and Future Outlook
- Technological innovation of lead-acid batteries
Despite facing strong challenges from lithium batteries, lead-acid batteries have not been completely phased out, but have demonstrated strong resilience driven by policy. As mentioned earlier, the relaxation of the weight limit for vehicles under the new national standard has allowed lead-acid batteries to increase their capacity and improve range, regaining some market share. At the same time, facing competition from lithium batteries, lead-acid battery companies are actively pursuing technological innovation.
For example, by introducing carbon additives, optimizing production processes, and adopting new materials and designs such as bipolar electrodes, they are improving battery conductivity, cycle life, and charging efficiency, thereby narrowing the performance gap with lithium batteries. These technological innovations aim to maintain their inherent cost and safety advantages while improving performance, in order to continue to cultivate markets that are price-sensitive, have lower range requirements, and place extreme emphasis on safety.
- Technological substitution directions
From a technological development perspective, the substitution of lead-acid batteries presents a multi-pronged approach. Lithium-ion batteries, with their comprehensive advantages in high energy density, lightweight design, and long lifespan, will continue to penetrate the high-end consumer and commercial application markets, gradually replacing some of the market share of traditional lead-acid batteries. However, the high cost of lithium-ion batteries remains the biggest obstacle to their complete replacement of lead-acid batteries.
Against this backdrop, sodium-ion batteries are considered the most powerful and disruptive alternative to lead-acid batteries. Although their energy density is lower than that of lithium-ion batteries, their potential low cost and high safety allow them to directly target the core market of lead-acid batteries.
Unlike the cost-performance curve of lithium-ion batteries, the emergence of sodium-ion batteries is expected to reduce battery costs to a level similar to that of lead-acid batteries in the future, while simultaneously outperforming them in performance. This positioning—better performance than lead-acid and lower cost than lithium-ion batteries—makes sodium-ion batteries a potential effective substitute for lead-acid batteries in the low-to-mid-range market, and even a competitor to entry-level lithium-ion batteries.
Conclusion
The future electric two-wheeler battery market will not be dominated by a single technology, but rather a landscape where lead-acid, lithium-ion, and sodium-ion batteries coexist. Each technology will develop in its most advantageous market segment, competing and penetrating each other.
Lead-acid batteries will continue to leverage their cost and safety advantages to penetrate the urban short-distance commuting, low-end models, and price-sensitive consumer markets. Technological advancements will focus on cost reduction and efficiency improvement to address challenges from emerging technologies. Lithium-ion batteries will dominate the high-end consumer market and commercial applications with higher requirements for performance, range, and lightweight design. As the technology matures and costs further decrease, their market penetration will continue to increase.
Although the sodium-ion battery industry is still in its early stages of industrialization, it will primarily focus on the low-to-mid-end market, seizing market share from lead-acid batteries and competing with entry-level lithium-ion batteries. Its development speed will depend mainly on the maturity of the two-wheeler battery market industry chain and the cost reduction brought about by large-scale mass production.
