In 2015, the year the Paris Climate Agreement was signed, Shi Agile, who had been working and living in Vancouver, Canada for over 20 years, returned to China and founded the BMS software and hardware solution enterprise Precision Control Energy, spanning nearly 10000 kilometers.
At that time, he had deeply realized that the entire new energy vehicle industry was turning to China. To promote the development of the entire new energy vehicle industry and even the future, he needed to return to the gathering place of the industry.
"Actually, founding this enterprise was a natural thing. At that time, China was in the early stage of new energy development, and the market began to grow rapidly. Our technology and product (passenger car BMS management system) were urgently needed in the industry." Recalling the experience of founding Potisedge at that time, Shi Agile still remembers it vividly.
But what Shi Agile, who has more than 20 years of experience in research and industrialization as a leading international new energy enterprise, did not expect was that Potisedge, which he founded, will soon experience unprecedented high-speed development and bring a profound transformation to the new energy market in China, including passenger car battery BMS systems, power supplies, and energy storage systems.
Since its establishment nine years ago, Potisedge has maintained a compound annual growth rate of over 60% in the first five years, and its growth rate has been in multiples in the past three years, far exceeding the industry average. The cooperative enterprises cover five major, six small, two network and two construction projects, as well as a large number of top quality enterprises such as CRRC, China Tower, CATL, and GCL.
2023 is regarded as the "year of refinement" for Potisedge. During this year, Potisedge completed its shareholding reform, as well as multiple rounds of financing including C and D rounds, as well as equity financing. The latest round of financing alone exceeded 300 million yuan, and the overall valuation was close to 4 billion yuan.
With its self-developed patented iCCS and BMS control technology, Potisedge has laid out energy storage applications in household, industrial and commercial, public utility, and other fields, and can provide industry-leading energy storage products and smart energy solutions.
In the past two years, Potisedge's large-scale energy storage projects have consistently ranked among the top in terms of national bulk shipments and distributed energy storage systems, making it a widely recognized unicorn enterprise in the energy storage field.
Recently, Gaogong Energy Storage went to Potisedge Energy Headquarters in Suzhou to have an in-depth conversation with Potisedge founder and chairman Shi Agile on topics such as Potisedge's journey, the development trajectory and trends of the global power battery management system and energy storage system integration industry.
Chance
"The most important thing is leading technology"
"In fact, from 2008 to 2010, as a foreign expert, I was sent back to China to do a lot of work in the new energy industry." Shi Agile told Gaogong Energy Storage that he had to work in China for nearly ten days every month.
It was during this period that the team led by Shi Agile truly developed and industrialized China's first new energy vehicle power battery BMS management system. This system was quickly applied by many domestic power battery manufacturers and new energy vehicle manufacturers in the future.
This experience also laid the groundwork for Shi Agile's return to China for entrepreneurship in the future.
Before returning to China to start his own business, Shi Agile had a deep accumulation in the new energy industry. As a core R&D member of the hydrogen energy world giant PlugPower and the electric vehicle battery management system enterprise JTT, Shi Agile has been deeply involved in the new energy industry for more than 20 years and has extensive experience in research, development, and management.
It was at this time that Shi Agile had already foreseen that the next new energy vehicle market would definitely be in China, and in the case of industrial transfer, it must follow the industry. At the same time, Shi Agile has found great opportunities in the field of new energy: in the era of new energy, the core technology behind power batteries is the high-performance BMS management system. So, he chose to return to China to start his own business and founded Jingkong Energy. At the beginning of the company's establishment, he set a strategy of adhering to the full stack self-development of core technologies.
When an individual's entrepreneurial choice coincides with a great opportunity of the times, a group of people immerse themselves in it with a common dream. In this transformation of the new energy industry, Shi Agile is also moving forward with precision control of energy.
Turn
"Grasping the rhythm and key nodes of entrepreneurship is crucial for enterprises"
The BMS software and hardware solution for power batteries is an excellent opportunity for agile and precision controlled energy at its inception.
In his view, whether it is related industry chains or manufacturing, it is an irreversible trend to start businesses and promote the development of the new energy power battery industry in the gathering places of industries in China.
Shi Agile believes that the feasibility of establishing Potisedge lies in: firstly, the company has internationally leading power battery BMS management system technology and patents, which are urgently needed but lacking in China. The core members of Potisedge's team also have rich experience in new energy industry management and design technology accumulation, as well as first-class domestic and foreign R&D personnel.
Secondly, the domestic industry and policy advantages have led the world in the application of new energy power batteries in the past few years. Potisedge was founded in 2015 and is regarded by the industry as an "explosive year" for the development of new energy vehicles. That year, the Chinese new energy vehicle market experienced explosive growth, with annual sales reaching 330000 units, accounting for over 40% of the global market.
The booming development of the new energy vehicle industry also means that the market opportunities for power battery BMS are increasing.
Thirdly, based on a local international perspective. On the one hand, localized BMS companies can be closer to customers and create customized solutions based on their needs. On the other hand, from the beginning of establishment, they aim to meet the needs of international first tier brands and keep up with the needs of first tier customers. And soon in 2017, it achieved mass shipment to world-class car companies.
Shi Agile stated that once a breakthrough is formed, it means that the product has gained market recognition and recognition from end customers.
The entrepreneurship was very successful and maintained good profits in the first two years of establishment. Shi Agile seized the opportunity and quickly entered the field of power battery PACK. With strong technical strength, the PACK products of Jingkong Energy have quickly been accepted by the market.
In 2019, Potisedge began to fully enter the energy storage field, establishing an engineering technology research center to continuously research and develop energy storage three-level BMS management systems, passenger car battery systems, etc. The previously laid out power supply has also been placed in a more important position.
This was later summarized by Shi Agile as "grasping the rhythm and key nodes of entrepreneurship is crucial for the development of enterprises."
The accurate grasp of market opportunities and full investment at the appropriate time have enabled Potisedge, led by Shi Agile, to maintain healthy and rapid development.
In 2019, Potisedge's BMS/power supply entered the global market and launched the world's leading IPCP management system.
Moving from energy storage BMS to the field of energy storage system integration is the biggest "bet" that Shi Agile and Potisedge have made so far.
Grow up
"To become a world-class provider of digital energy system solutions"
Shi Agile gave an example of the current three-level architecture for energy storage BMS applications, and Potisedge had already applied this three-level architecture to the automotive BMS used in European vehicles exported as early as 2016.
The strict requirements of overseas top car companies for the performance of their technical products have also forged and verified the reliability and safety of Potisedge's technical products, laying a solid foundation for Potisedge's rapid rise in the energy storage field and further strengthening Shi Agile's confidence and determination to do a good job in the energy storage market.
During the two years from 2019 to 2021, Potisedge focused mainly on product validation and mass production breakthroughs in energy storage systems, while maintaining continuous investment and technological research and development innovation in hydrogen energy and power sources. In 2019, Potisedge's power supply began to enter the global market, and by 2021, its power supply had achieved bulk shipments domestically and exported in large quantities overseas.
The real surge in Potisedge's energy storage business occurred in 2021. In July of that year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Energy Storage", which clearly proposed the development goal of achieving a cumulative installed capacity of 30GW by 2025.
With the push of policies, the domestic energy storage market has experienced a leapfrog growth in 2021. According to research and statistics from GGII, the total shipment of lithium battery energy storage in China increased by over 110% year-on-year in 2021.
In 2020, Potisedge accurately grasped the opportunity of the rapid growth of the energy storage industry in the future and launched its first round of strategic financing since its establishment. In 2021 and 2022, it completed Series A and Series B financing consecutively. While obtaining future development funds, it also introduced high-quality industrial capital such as Asahi Capital, Atlas, and Goodway, creating a perfect closed loop for the energy storage business ecosystem.
With core technology, sufficient funding, and an energy storage ecosystem, Agile and Potisedge accelerated the expansion of energy storage capacity in 2020 and 2021.
In the face of tight production capacity in the energy storage industry in 2022, Potisedge's early layout is crucial.
That is to say, in this year, Potisedge won a large number of ODM orders from top customers such as CRRC in China.
One of the most prominent features of the new energy industry is that once recognized by top customers, it will quickly form large-scale production and shipment. "If your production capacity, technical strength, and industrialization experience are recognized by the market and customers, your subsequent development will be much smoother."
According to market research data, Potisedge's revenue has increased exponentially, and large-scale energy storage projects have consistently ranked among the top in terms of batch shipments in China.
In 2023, despite the energy storage industry being deeply mired in internal competition, Potisedge maintained stable growth through diversified cooperation with top customers in the field of large-scale storage and the rise of its independent brand in the field of industrial and commercial energy storage.
Meanwhile, Potisedge completed two rounds of financing in 2023. According to Gaogong Energy Storage, financing will mainly be used for technology research and development, new product development and mass production, global market expansion and layout, supply chain capacity improvement, and organizational structure construction. As of 2023, the production capacity of Potisedge energy storage system has exceeded 12GWh, and it is expected that the total production capacity will reach 31GWh after the new headquarters base is completed and put into operation in 2024.
At present, Potisedge has comprehensive core patented technologies in the field of energy storage system integration, covering BMS, CCS/iCCS, PCS, thermal management technology, etc., effectively ensuring the safety and stability of energy storage systems from a technical perspective.
Sprint
"Goal - Global Smart Energy Innovators"
Shi Agile has a unique understanding and commitment to the current energy storage market landscape and Potisedge's future development positioning.
Gaogong Energy Storage Analysis believes that in the domestic market, with the further expansion of the energy storage system integration market and the continuous improvement of industry concentration in the future, the market share of top enterprises will also increase. This also means that Potisedge, as a high-quality system solution supplier, will continue to grow rapidly in size.
Under the vast market, there is a thirst for better performance products and system solutions. For different application scenarios such as public utility level energy storage, industrial and commercial energy storage, and household energy storage, Potisedge continuously expands its product line system from user needs, achieves rapid technological iteration, and launches a full range of highly competitive products in the market.
At the 2023 SNEC ES+event held in November 2023, Potisedge showcased a full range of products including BAOBAB-M home energy storage systems, OMNICUBE industrial and commercial energy storage systems, and POTISBANK grid side energy storage systems.
For industrial and commercial application scenarios, the Potisedge 215kWh optical storage direct flexible integrated power supply system is equipped with Potisedge's independently developed iCCS (highly integrated intelligent energy storage connection control system). Starting from the battery cell level, it constructs system level thermal runaway risk control, innovates voltage, current, prediction, warning, temperature, confirmation, six dimensional safety protection, and flexibly applies the three-level progressive thermal runaway prediction principle to achieve a new height of safety protection for energy storage products.
Looking towards the future, Shi Agile has set its sights on a broader global market.
Shi Agile's over 20 years of work experience in new energy overseas, including his thinking style, have also made communication and cooperation between Jingkong Energy and international enterprises almost unobstructed.
Gaogong Energy Storage noted that Potisedge has frequently appeared in many overseas energy exhibitions in Germany, South America, the United States, Türkiye, etc. in the past two years.
In 2022, Potisedge signed a strategic cooperation agreement with DURAPOWER Group in Singapore.
In 2023, Potisedge signed a strategic cooperation agreement with ALVA Technology in Sweden to jointly explore the Swedish energy storage market.
As of now, Potisedge has delivered over 5GWh of energy storage products globally. At the same time, Potisedge's self-developed large-scale energy storage product, the PotisBank series container energy storage system, has been awarded dual system certification in North America and the European Union. The business scope has covered Canada, the United States, Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Türkiye, South Africa, Australia, Japan, Singapore and other countries.
In Shi Agile's view, Potisedge's development over the past nine years is precisely due to its development strategy of adhering to original innovation and self-developed full stack core technologies. At present, Potisedge has over 200 core technologies and related patents owned and laid out globally.
Meeting the diverse needs of users in a diversified market, promoting ecosystem collaboration and win-win outcomes, and becoming a "global smart energy innovator" is precisely the new goal of Potisedge and Agile's future development.
