From Istanbul to Las Vegas: LiBat's Journey to CES 2026

January 2026, Las Vegas. Our booth at CES is busier than we anticipated. Engineers, procurement managers, and executives from companies across three continents keep asking the same question: how does a Turkish startup [1] build a complete battery management ecosystem (hardware, firmware, desktop tools, cloud platform, mobile app) entirely in-house.

The short answer: one layer at a time, over ten years.

Growing the Product Line

Our first BMS modules addressed the immediate needs of Turkish lithium battery integrators: cell measurement, passive balancing, basic protection [2]. Functional, reliable, and entirely designed and manufactured domestically.

From there, the product family expanded based on what customers told us they needed. The BMS1201 as a starting point. The BMS1202 and MOD1201 slave modules introducing daisy-chain scalability. The BMS1810 for more complex applications. The INT201 peripheral controller for system integration. Each product filled a gap identified through field experience, not market research slides.

Then came the software layers. LiMon as the desktop monitoring and configuration tool [3]. And the pivotal shift to cloud: LiBat Connect, for remote battery monitoring, fleet analytics, and over-the-air firmware updates. The product line evolved from discrete hardware modules into an integrated ecosystem. That was never the original plan. It just became clear that customers needed every layer to work together seamlessly.

Going International

The turning point came when we started showing up at events outside Turkey. The Battery Show Europe [4]. TechBBQ in Copenhagen. Electronica in Munich [5]. Each trip expanded our network and sharpened our positioning. We weren't just a Turkish BMS company. We were a connected battery intelligence company that happened to be from Turkey.

Our acceptance into the OPEVA consortium, a Horizon Europe project with 34 organizations across Europe, opened the European research ecosystem in ways we hadn't expected [6] [7]. Contributing smart battery management infrastructure alongside leading universities and automotive suppliers validated our technology at a level domestic projects alone couldn't achieve.

In October 2025, our team delivered a keynote at the Battery Technologies Summit at Bilişim Vadisi [8]. Speaking alongside major international battery manufacturers and global consulting firms, presenting on cloud-aided BMS integration for non-automotive applications, felt like a milestone. Not because of the stage, but because the audience treated our technology as globally relevant. That's a shift you can feel.

CES 2026 and Zepell

Just before the new year, we made two significant moves.

First, we launched Zepell Technology in Amsterdam, a European entity focused on lithium battery digitalization [9]. The rationale was practical: closer to European partners, customers, and the regulatory environment that's shaping battery management's future.

Then, CES. As part of the Türkiye National Pavilion organized by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) at the world's largest consumer electronics show, we showcased our Smart Battery Management Systems to a genuinely global audience [10]. Four days of continuous engagement: technical deep-dives, partnership discussions, and the kind of conversations that only happen when you're standing next to your product in a room full of people who understand the problem it solves.

What's Next

The path from Istanbul to Las Vegas wasn't linear, and the next chapter won't be either. We're scaling production, expanding international sales through Zepell, deepening our EU research involvement, and building toward the Battery-as-a-Service model that we believe will reshape how batteries are owned and managed.

What hasn't changed is the principle we started with: build every layer yourself, test relentlessly, and stay close to the customers who actually use your technology in the field. Everything else follows from that.