CATL's Q2 beats on storage — revenue up 57%, and the ESS pivot is now the growth engine

CATL reported Q2 revenue of ¥147.8B, up 56.9% year on year, and net profit of ¥22.5B (~$3.32B), up 36.5% — ahead of the ~29.7% analysts expected. The beat was driven by energy storage, which offset softer EV demand: H1 storage revenue rose 87.5% to ¥53.26B at a ~24% gross margin, and H1 net profit climbed 42% to ¥43.28B. CATL also announced a share buyback alongside the results.

Why it matters

The world's largest battery maker just reported that its fastest-growing business is grid storage, not EVs — the clearest single confirmation of the ESS pivot this newsroom has tracked across the industry. Storage growing at 87% while EVs soften is the demand signal behind CATL's own European sodium deployments and the reason rivals are chasing the same anchor: LG's Google Steel River win and sodium mother line, Samsung SDI's grid pivot. AI-datacenter and grid demand is re-rating the battery industry's growth away from the car — and CATL, with the scale and the margin, is the clearest beneficiary. The buyback signals a company confident enough in cash generation to return capital mid-buildout.

What to watch

Whether storage margins hold as sodium and LFP capacity floods in, EV-segment stabilization, and how much of the storage surge is US-datacenter-adjacent versus Chinese grid demand.