As the energy density of lithium batteries advances towards 400Wh/kg or even higher, the drone industry is accelerating the benefits of new lithium battery technologies.

Behind this is the growing industrial and logistics drone market in China, which has strict requirements for long endurance and high reliability, providing a strong testing ground and support for the commercialization of advanced battery technology.

Industrial drones are the largest sector in China's drone market, with a market size of over 120 billion yuan by 2024.

Among them, logistics drones, as an emerging sub category, are experiencing an annual growth rate of over 30%, becoming the fastest growing track.

Entering 2025, the development process of logistics drones will further accelerate.

Policy support is the main driving force, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China has clearly supported Shenzhen and other places to carry out pilot research on low altitude logistics. In addition, 5G communication technology reduces transmission latency to within 20 milliseconds, laying the technological foundation for large-scale commercialization.

The application scenarios of drones in the logistics field are becoming increasingly clear.

The tonnage eVTOL aims to replace some traditional air cargo planes and achieve half day cross city delivery. Small logistics drones, in conjunction with ground connection cabinets, are dedicated to solving the cost sensitive "last mile" delivery problem.

The rapid development and clear demand of the drone industry are becoming the most effective catalyst for the commercialization of high-energy density battery technology.

The commercial practices in first tier cities provide strong evidence for this. Taking Shenzhen as an example, as of now, the city has opened nearly 300 drone routes and completed over 1.7 million cargo flights.

At the same time, the refined operational data of top operators also reveals their commercial potential. According to Meituan's drone service, the logistics drone route it has opened in Yangpu District, Shanghai has completed over 450000 orders, with a peak of 189 orders per day. The delivery efficiency has increased by more than three times compared to traditional models.

Whether it is the macro scale of Shenzhen or the micro efficiency of Meituan, this high-frequency and high-intensity commercial operation directly exposes the bottleneck of existing lithium battery technology in terms of endurance, and puts forward clear technical requirements for improving energy density, extending cycle life, and enhancing safety.

For the commercial drone market, endurance and number of cycles are core indicators. Its business model also provides a "pay" space for new technologies: industry information shows that battery packs account for only 2% -3% of the total cost of small unmanned aerial vehicles, and operators are generally willing to pay a 20% -30% battery cost premium for performance improvement.

It is precisely these stringent requirements and clear business prospects from real operational scenarios that have significantly accelerated the research and application process of solid-state batteries, lithium metal batteries, silicon negative electrode batteries, and so on.

The industry originally expected high specific energy technology to be commercialized in the low altitude flight field in the second quarter of 2026, but the positive response from the market is shortening this cycle.

Multiple high specific energy battery manufacturers have received bulk orders from drone manufacturers. Overseas, solid-state battery startups Factorial and high silicon negative electrode battery Amprius have started supplying to drones, and GDI Corporation in the United States has also announced the expansion of its silicon-based negative electrode material production to meet the demand for drones and other equipment.

The pace of Chinese domestic enterprises is also rapid: Weilan New Energy has been mass producing small power solid-state batteries for drones since 2020.

Jinlongyu Group recently announced that its solid-state battery cells with an energy density of up to 500Wh/kg have received an annual purchase order of 100000 units from customers.

Jinyu New Energy's "Wuji" series of lithium metal batteries without negative electrodes recently announced that it has started stable mass production of over 10000 units per month. Its 52Ah version of the battery cell has an energy density of over 420Wh/kg, making it suitable for scenarios such as drones that require high energy density.

Although the cost of solid-state batteries is currently around 1.5 times that of liquid lithium batteries, the industry predicts that the cost gap will narrow to 1.2 to 1.5 times by the end of 2026.

With the improvement of yield and large-scale production, the path to cost reduction is clear. For the commercial drone market that pursues ultimate performance, this will become an acceptable performance premium.

On June 25-26, the 18th High Tech Lithium Battery Industry Summit will be held at the Wanda Hotel in Jintan, Changzhou. The theme of this summit is "Resonant Application of Industrial Chain Pattern Restructuring in All Scenarios", and senior executives of upstream and downstream enterprises in the battery industry will gather and exchange ideas.

At Battery Application Session One: Battery Demand under Full Scene Resonance, senior executives from upstream and downstream companies such as Rexroth New Materials, Juwan Technology Research, Ruishen Technology, Ruipu Lanjun, Pioneer Intelligence, and Carlowide will give exciting keynote speeches and conduct roundtable discussions. Stay tuned.