On October 28, the 2026 Li Auto i6 was launched at a retail price of 249,800 yuan, equipped as standard with Li Auto's self-developed Lianshan 5C battery with a capacity of 96 kWh.

2026 Li Auto i6 (Source: Xinhua Net)

Li Auto's vehicles are being switched over to its own Lianshan batteries one model at a time. At Power Day on October 20, Li Auto grouped its self-developed batteries, electric drive, ultra-fast charging equipment and self-built ultra-fast charging network under one name: the "Lianshan" electric technology system. The battery part is called the Lianshan battery.

Cells and battery packs: how far Li Auto handles each

First, let's distinguish two things. A cell is the smallest unit that stores electricity inside a battery, one by one. A battery pack is the whole block that puts many cells together, adds a housing, wiring and a management system, and is finally installed under the vehicle floor.

Li Auto's Lianshan battery pack undergoing an immersion test (Source: Li Auto video screenshot, via CnEVPost)

Self-development also comes in two forms. Designing and building it yourself is called self-development and self-manufacturing; designing it yourself and having someone else build it is called self-development with contract manufacturing. Li Auto explained this clearly in its September 8 response to netizens: battery packs are self-developed and self-manufactured, while cells are self-developed and contract-manufactured. Li Auto leads the design and development of the cells, and battery makers such as Sunwoda and CALB produce them according to Li Auto's designs. The battery management system (BMS) that manages battery temperature and charge, and the thermal management that controls battery temperature, are also developed by Li Auto itself.

The 5C in the name refers to charging speed. Li Auto's official statement is that, under applicable conditions, 10 minutes of charging provides 500 km of range.

Lianshan battery: switched in model by model

On September 7, Li Auto announced the switchover plan on its official Weibo: self-developed batteries have already been installed on the all-new L8, the new L6 and the i8; the first batch of deliveries of the new-generation MEGA and the all-new i9 will use CATL batteries, after which they will fully switch to Li Auto's self-developed batteries, with the i9 waiting until self-developed battery capacity ramp-up is complete; the 2026 i6 uses self-developed batteries across the entire lineup.

Hongxing Capital Bureau reported on October 28 that, based on the configurations of 2026 models ordered at that time, only some variants of the all-new L9 and the i8 four-wheel-drive high-performance version still used CATL batteries; other models ordered came with self-developed batteries.

Battery costs: Ma Donghui breaks them into five parts

On how to reduce the cost of its own batteries, in a Q&A from a communication meeting published by 36Kr on September 30, co-founder Ma Donghui broke battery costs into five parts: production line amortization, manufacturing expenses, raw materials, logistics and warehousing, and R&D investment. He said the opportunity to cut costs lies in improving efficiency across the entire chain, while safeguarding performance and quality first and not switching to cheaper materials.

Production line amortization, put simply, is the money spent building production lines, allocated to each battery. Ma Donghui gave an analogy: for example, spending 1 billion yuan to build a production line and depreciating and amortizing it over several years. This 1 billion yuan is a hypothetical figure he used as an example. Li Auto's approach is cell platformization, reusing production lines as much as possible. Platformization means unifying cell specifications, reducing models to a small number of types, so that the same production line can continue to be used. The higher the production line utilization rate, the less money is allocated to each battery. Liu Zhimin, head of battery R&D, said Li Auto's cells currently have only two solution types, 5C ternary lithium and 5C lithium iron phosphate, with at most two cell types per category. Ternary lithium and lithium iron phosphate are two mainstream cell material routes.

On manufacturing expenses, Ma Donghui said Li Auto has an intelligent industrial team and the "Li Auto Lianshan System," which can monitor the production process and analyze data, providing quality warnings while identifying waste in manufacturing and improving the pass rate. According to CnEVPost, Li Auto previously introduced this Lianshan quality monitoring system, which links data from upstream materials, cell manufacturing and battery pack production all the way through to vehicle use.

On logistics and warehousing, Ma Donghui said that after the battery system is unified, warehousing, packaging, tooling and transportation can all be more efficient, and waste from duplicate storage and transportation can be reduced. Tooling refers to supporting tools such as fixtures and material racks used in production and turnover.

The company has not disclosed exactly how much can be reduced.

Electric drive and silicon carbide power modules are also made in-house

Beyond the battery, another core electric component in the vehicle is the electric drive. Electric drive consists of the motor and the motor controller; the motor turns the wheels, and the controller manages how the motor turns. Li Xiang said at the August 26 earnings call that Li Auto has achieved self-development and self-manufacturing of the motor, motor controller and silicon carbide power modules. Silicon carbide power modules are key components in the motor controller, and their performance affects the energy loss of the electric drive.

Li Auto's self-developed electric drive assembly production line (Source: Li Auto video screenshot, via CnEVPost)

Li Xiang also said that by designing these together, energy consumption is being pushed down bit by bit, solutions are continuously iterated, and the hardware cost allocated to each vehicle is coming down accordingly.

Supply partners develop according to Li Auto's standards

With batteries and electric drive in its own hands, the way Li Auto deals with upstream partners has also changed. Li Xiang said at the August 26 earnings call that it would not pass on cost increases in batteries, memory chips and other items to consumers.

In the 36Kr Q&A, Ma Donghui said that in the past, when raw material prices fluctuated, Li Auto mostly had no choice but to accept it passively. Now that it designs the cells itself and builds the battery packs itself, Li Auto can actively manage upstream materials and keep cost fluctuations and supply stability under its own watch.

Li Auto's September 8 response mentioned that it works with multiple cell manufacturing partners, and all solutions must be developed around a unified product definition and Li Auto's standards.

Liu Liguo, senior vice president of vehicle electric R&D, put it more directly: in the future, no matter which supplier it is, they must carry out customized development according to Li Auto's system and dimensional standards, and "regardless of whether the price is high or low, it must meet our requirements."