Japan to Update Battery Industry Strategy With New Targets and Timelines

Amid a global oversupply of batteries, Japan aims to differentiate its domestic production by focusing on high-value-added areas such as performance and safety, alongside next generation battery technology. In response to evolving conditions, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has expanded the former Battery Industry Strategy, producing the new Battery and Power Supply Industry Strategy – which includes the following revised targets:

Establishing a domestic manufacturing base: Establish a domestic manufacturing base of 150 GWh per year between 2030 and the mid-2030s.
Securing global presence: Triple Japanese companies’ battery-related sales in global markets between 2025 and 2035.
Capturing the next-generation battery market: Bring all-solid-state batteries into full-scale practical use around 2030 and establish a manufacturing base aligned with demand scale toward the mid-2030s.

METI has also set out policy levers to help achieve these targets, including the following measures:

Promote the development of a market environment that recognizes batteries with strong performance, safety, and supply chain resilience.
Widely disseminate the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE)’s “Guidelines on the Safety of Battery Energy Storage Systems for Public Procurement and Critical Infrastructure.”
Require third-party conformity certification based on standards, criteria, and guidelines related to battery safety for grid-scale BESS public subsidies, the long-term decarbonized power source auction (LTDA), and other schemes.

🔍 Shulman Commentary:

In addition to setting concrete targets for future nuclear development as we featured last week, METI will update its battery strategy to promote high-value-added batteries and differentiate domestic products from overseas batteries, including those from China, which hold a large share of the global market. In the domestic BESS market, subsidy dynamics could also shift as the government places greater weight on safety and supply chain resilience, potentially affecting BESS developers’ business plans.

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