Leoch Battery’s Strategic Pivot: Building a Smarter, Sustainable Energy Future

Robin Li, Chief Technology Officer at Leoch Battery, speaks to CarbonWire on the sidelines of The Battery Show Asia 2025 in Hong Kong, sharing insights into the company’s global growth, innovation agenda, and its evolving role in sustainable energy solutions.

From its roots as a battery manufacturer to its growing identity as a global smart energy solutions provider, Leoch Battery is undergoing a fundamental transformation — one that is driven by sustainability, digitalisation, and strategic foresight. At The Battery Show Asia 2025 in Hong Kong, Robin Li, Leoch’s Chief Technology Officer, shed light on the company’s vision, innovations, and the challenges it is tackling across global energy markets.

Singaporean Company with Global Roots

Though perceived as a China based battery company given its early factories in China, Leoch has deep Singaporean ties and a Singapore company. “Our founder is Singaporean, I’m Singaporean, and our global headquarters is based in Singapore,” said Li. Listed in Hong Kong since the early 2000s, the company is eyeing a US listing for its overseas assets later this year, further solidifying its position as a global enterprise.

With a presence in over 150 countries, Leoch holds a strong position in Western markets such as the US, UK and Europe, particularly in telecoms & automotives, with clients like Vodafone & Ford. Yet paradoxically, the company’s penetration in Asia-Pacific, including ASEAN, remains relatively limited. “It’s ironic,” said Li, “but we see ASEAN as a strategic growth region going forward, especially as these economies develop rapidly.”

Smart Energy and the AI Edge

Leoch’s ambitions extend far beyond traditional batteries. The company is now focusing on smart energy management solutions, with artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) forming the core of its next-generation smart platforms.

At the Battery Show, Leoch unveiled its latest smart city infrastructure energy management solutions, built to integrate lithium batteries, energy storage systems (ESS), and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) batteries. “AI adds the value layer,” explained Li. “It enables predictive thermal management, remote battery monitoring, demand forecasting, and smart optimisation of ESS, EV chargers & Distributed renewables, for commercial and industrial use.”

This is particularly critical in regions like Singapore where strong grids limit opportunities for price arbitrage, making advanced energy management software essential. “We have to stack value through features like EV charging capacity booster, demand response, virtual power plants, and frequency regulation,” Li added.

Decentralised Energy for Real-World Impact

Leoch is firmly focused on “behind-the-meter” energy solutions — targeting city infrastructure, data centres, and industrial estates — rather than utility-scale generation. This, Li argues, aligns with market demands in dense urban environments like Singapore and Hong Kong.

One standout project in Sulawesi, Indonesia, involved converting a diesel-dependent island resort to solar-powered microgrids in partnership with Schneider Electric. “We reduced diesel use by more than 30%,” Li noted, “and the turtles returned to the beach — literally.” It’s a small but powerful example of how decarbonisation can drive ecological and economic co-benefits.

Rethinking Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

While Leoch doesn’t produce EV batteries for cars, it plays a crucial role in supporting electrification through its leadership in start-stop (SLI) batteries and charging infrastructure. In Hong Kong, the company is co-developing 300 ultra-fast EV charging sites that integrate AI to manage grid constraints dynamically.

“Many urban substations cannot handle the surge in demand from EVs,” said Li. “Rather than upgrading every substation, which is costly and time-consuming, we’re using solar-plus-storage with AI-based load management and ESS boosted capacity management to bridge the gap.”

This model is also being replicated in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, where the challenge of balancing rapid electrification with grid limitations is becoming increasingly urgent.

Innovation Anchored in Asia

Singapore serves as both Leoch’s innovation hub and testbed. The company has invested in a local R&D team working on AI, software, cybersecurity, battery management systems (BMS) and energy management system (EMS) that meet stringent GovTech standards. “Our team developed software for government projects before ,” said Li, “so we apply the same cybersecurity discipline to our smart battery & energy management platforms.”

This week, Leoch launched its sodium-ion battery for telecom applications—an innovation driven by real-world client demands in Europe and Australia. It is also actively exploring solid-state battery research in collaboration with local and global institutions.

“We believe ASEAN can lead in battery & demand-side energy innovation,” said Li. “Singapore, with its small size, is an ideal living lab. Our product managers here understand global requirements and are building solutions to match.”

Circular Economy and Second-Life Strategies

Leoch is embracing battery lifecycle management as part of its sustainability ethos. The company is developing closed-loop systems for recycling, reuse, and second-life applications. “Recycling is no longer just a cost centre,” said Li. “We’re working to turn it into a revenue-generating, impact-driven initiative.”

He pointed to partnerships with local firms across Southeast Asia and a growing regional push, including Indonesia’s nickel-fuelled battery investment initiatives, as catalysts for a more sustainable and localised battery value chain.

ASEAN’s Unique Challenges and Opportunities

For the ASEAN region, decarbonisation must go hand in hand with economic necessity. “In many of these countries, the first priority is still livelihood,” said Li. “So we need to show how clean energy makes financial sense.”

Leoch’s strategy is to create modular, cost-effective, and scalable solutions that can leapfrog fossil-fuel dependence, especially in off-grid areas. With data centre booms in Malaysia and energy poverty in parts of the Philippines and Indonesia, the demand for distributed, affordable energy is only set to grow.

“We’ve proven that solar + ESS can be cheaper than diesel,” said Li, citing the resort project in Indonesia. “That’s the kind of economic viability that will scale.”

As he looks to the next five years, Li boils down his motivation to three key words: impact, innovation, and passion.

“It’s about making a real difference — for the environment, for people, for future generations,” he said. With a team of young engineers from NUS, NTU and SUTD, Li sees his role as a mentor and enabler. “The future belongs to them. My job is to guide them while we innovate together.”

He remains clear-eyed about the odds: “We can’t compete with giant manufacturers in China, Europe or the US. But we can find our space in the urban city infrastructure or remote sites, innovate with AI and modular smart energy management platforms, and grow where the big fish don’t swim and lacks the agility.”