Table of Contents
1. What Is a Battery Cell Serial Number (SN)?
A cell serial number (SN) is a unique identifier assigned to each individual battery cell during production. It allows manufacturers and customers to trace:
Manufacturer and factory
Production year, month, and batch
Material system (e.g. ternary lithium)
Production line and process
Quality inspection status
For power batteries and energy‑storage cells, 20–24 character SNs are the most common.
2. Is There a Unified SN Standard?
No global mandatory standard exists for battery cell SNs.
However:
Each china lithium battery manufacturer has an internal coding rule
Leading china battery manufacturers follow similar structural logic
SNs are usually fixed‑length and rule‑based, not random
That is why different brands may all use 24‑digit SNs, but with different internal definitions.
3. Typical Structure of a 24‑Digit Cell Serial Number
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th |
| Manufacturer Code | Production Type | Cell Type | Model Code | Production Line | Packing No. | Task Order No. | Production Address | ||||||
| 15th | 16th | 17th | 18th | 19th | 20th | 21th | 22th | 23th | 24th |
| Production Year | Production Month | Production Date | Serial Number | ||||||
For example, the cell of EVE LF280K’s Tracking code is 04QCB76G30503J-F470006428
1st-3rd. Manufacturer Codes
Based on commonly used industry tables, large Chinese manufacturers typically use short alphanumeric factory identifiers, for example (04QCB76G30503J):
| Manufacturer | Example Code |
| CATL | 001 |
| BYD | 009 |
| Gotion High Tech | 03H |
| Lishen | 02C |
| EVE Power | 02Y |
| EVE Energy | 04Q |
| CALB | 0B5 |
| BAK | 005 |
| Sunwoda | 00P |
| Farasis | 064 |
4th. Production Type
| C | Cells |
| P | Battery Packs |
| M | Modules |
5th. Cell Type
| B | LifePo4 |
| C | LMO |
| D | LiCoO |
| E | NCM |
| G | ZnFeO |
| Z | Others |
6th. Cell Model
| 76 | LF280K |
| 66 | LF105 |
| 43 | LF314 /MB31 |
| 73 | LF304 |
14th. Production Address
| J | JINGMEN, CHINA |
| H | HUIZHOU, CHINA |
15-17th. Year and Month Encoding Logic
15th. Year Encoding
Manufacturers often use compressed year codes:
Numeric: A = 2020, B = 2021, C = 2022, D = 2023, etc.
Sequential mapping:
1 = 2010,2 = 2011, etc.
Alphanumeric extension when numbers are exhausted
| Year | Code |
| 2020 | A |
| 2021 | B |
| 2022 | C |
| 2023 | D |
| 2024 | E |
| 2025 | F |
| 2026 | G |
| 2027 | H |
| 2028 | I |
| 2029 | J |
| 2030 | 1 |
16th. Month Encoding
To keep SN length fixed, months may be encoded as:
| Month | Code |
| Jan–Sep | 1–9 |
| Oct | A |
| Nov | B |
| Dec | C |
17th. Day Encoding
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th |
| 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E |
| 15th | 16th | 17th | 18th | 19th | 20th | 21th |
| F | G | H | J | K | L | M |
| 22th | 23th | 24th | 25th | 26th | 27th | 28th |
| N | P | R | S | T | V | W |
| 29th | 30th | 31th | ||||
| X | Y | O |
4. Why the Cell SN Matters in Real Applications
The cell serial number plays a critical role in:
Incoming inspection & supplier audits
Warranty claims and root‑cause analysis
Export documentation and customer acceptance
Production batch recall and risk isolation
Conclusion
Although lithium battery cell serial numbers are not standardized, their core logic is highly consistent across major manufacturers. By understanding the structure, time encoding, and ternary lithium identifiers, buyers and engineers can better evaluate product quality, traceability, and compliance