CATL: Battery cells and stationary energy-storage systems

CATL develops batteries for transport and stationary storage, including TENER containerised systems and TENER Stack configurations for larger energy projects.

Best for: Storage projects evaluating battery technology, enclosure architecture and integration with power-conversion equipment.
Less suited to: Assuming a cell supplier or battery enclosure determines the complete site's external control interface.
Deployment: Battery systems combined with the specified PCS, site controller, electrical infrastructure and operating arrangements.
Data in: Battery and system status through project-specific BMS and integration interfaces; public register maps not verified.

Overview

CATL develops batteries for vehicles and stationary energy storage. Its company history covers both businesses, while the stationary portfolio includes complete battery-system architectures as well as the underlying cell technology. That distinction matters when evaluating a storage project: a battery manufacturer's name does not by itself describe the power converter, site controller or grid interface.

The TENER system and TENER Stack provide examples at different packaging scales. Their energy capacities describe stored energy, while the associated PCS arrangement determines conversion power and the connection to the AC system. Comparing those boundaries is more useful than treating battery capacity as a complete power-plant specification.

Offering

CATL introduced TENER in April 2024 with 6.25 MWh in a 20-foot container format. The launch material describes LFP battery technology and system-level thermal and safety arrangements. TENER Stack, announced in May 2025, increases the stated energy capacity to 9 MWh and supports both centralised and string power-conversion architectures.

The company subsequently announced TENER Sodium in June 2026. That is a different battery-chemistry and packaging proposition, rather than an interchangeable revision of the LFP product. The announcement describes a modular design with separated energy and power blocks; procurement and integration still require the exact offered configuration.

Products and platforms

Battery management system

Battery-management technology covering cell monitoring, state estimation and management. A technology capability, not a separately orderable stationary EMS or guaranteed public API.⁷

Technology

The TENER Stack announcement explicitly distinguishes centralised and string PCS architectures. This gives a useful integration boundary: the battery system can be combined with different power-conversion arrangements, but the selected PCS and site controls remain part of the design. Battery-side status, converter measurements and plant-level dispatch are different information layers.

CATL's storage ecosystem description spans cells, energy management and project delivery. The reviewed public sources do not define a universal external Modbus, IEC 61850 or other register interface for these systems. A technical selection should therefore obtain the model-specific BMS, PCS and EMS interface documents rather than assume that the communications contract follows automatically from the CATL cell brand.

Markets

Large stationary projects compare stored energy, conversion power, land use, transport and maintenance access together. TENER Stack is presented around those deployment considerations, including its packaging and PCS choices. A 9 MWh battery configuration can serve different durations depending on the power-conversion rating, so its energy headline is not a standalone measure of operating capability.

CATL's 2026 storage update describes projects and services across several markets. Manufacturer claims about degradation, safety or lifetime should be assessed against the offered configuration and contractual conditions. In particular, the launch description of TENER is evidence of a product claim, not a substitute for an independently qualified lifetime model or a project warranty.

Company

CATL's company history identifies 2011 as the establishment of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited. The history also discusses an earlier business founded by the team, ATL; that earlier date is not used as CATL's founding year. The contact page identifies the current headquarters in Ningde, Fujian, China, and lists overseas subsidiaries separately.

This profile concerns CATL's battery and stationary-storage offering rather than a single regional subsidiary. Its publications separate vehicle batteries from stationary systems and identify product launches by name and date. This helps a buyer distinguish established product configurations from newer announcements and request the appropriate project documentation, rather than transfer a headline about one chemistry or enclosure to another.