Understanding technological innovation and evolution of energy storage in China: Spatial differentiation of innovations in lithium-ion battery industry

China has attached great importance to technology innovation of lithium battery and expects to enhance its efficiency in distributed energy storage systems. The driving factors of technological innovation are often closely related to regional resources, spatial elements and intellectual factors. This has been confirmed by previous research such as in smart grid, but the exploration of lithium battery, an important field, has not been carried out. Based on the industrial location and spatial theory, this study obtained the patent data of lithium-ion batteries (LiB) and technology information. Based on spatial methods such as standard deviation ellipse and Moran index, this paper visually analyses the spatial patterns that influence the technological innovation of LiB in China, and discusses its driving factors in different development periods. The results show that: (1) The LiB innovation space in China is dominated by the Pearl River Delta, supplemented by the Yangtze River Delta and the Beijing-TianjinHebei region, forming a multipolar pattern. (2) The driving force of innovation space evolution is different. Research institutions and enterprises occupy different leadership positions in different regions. (3) The concentration index of the LiB innovation indicates that innovation in neighbouring provinces of China is spatially dependent and increasingly significant. The market structure has a positive impact on the innovation efficiency of the lithium battery industry, and this positive impact also has characteristics of spatial heterogeneity.