The number of Chinese batteries for electric vehicles this year significantly increased by 250% compared to last year. This is result of China’s export amount has been increased, and affecting the domestic electric vehicle market in the meantime. There is concern that the Korean battery industry will struggle due to aggressive production of Chinese batteries.
According to the China Automobile Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance (CAPBIIA) on the 15th, the amount of batteries for electric vehicles produced in China from January to October of this year was 159.8GWh. This is a 250% increase from 55.5GWh in the same period last year. The 159.8GWh battery is enough to produce 2.5 million electric vehicles.
It is estimated that 30% of the local battery production was exported considering that 1.75 million electric vehicles were sold in China until October of this year.
Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) to nickel, cobalt, manganese(NCM) ion ternary system was added to the main product lineup of the Chinese battery industry. This is to respond to demand of global automotive customers.
Out of 159.8GWh of batteries produced in China until October, ternary (NCM) batteries accounted for 72GWh. This is more than double the amount produced during the same period last year (32.7GWh). As the number of global automobile customers increases in recent days, the Chinese battery industry is producing ternary batteries along with LFP. The auto industry prefers LFP for mid- to low-end electric vehicles, and ternary batteries such as NCM for mid- to high-end electric vehicles.
An official from the battery industry said, “The increase in Chinese ternary batteries implies that the number of Chinese battery manufactures supplying to global automakers has increased. We are not fully experiencing the threat due to the demand for electric vehicles is growing faster than the growth of Chinese battery companies; however, utilization of Chinese batteries by global automakers is on the rise.”
CATL, which has the largest market share in the global market, ranked first with 54.48 GWh in the electric vehicle battery production facilities in China compiled by CAPBIIA. Then it was followed by BYD and CALB, with 17.88GWh and 6.42GWh, respectively. LG Energy Solution (5.12GWh) was the only domestic company to be in the top tiers, and was pushed down from 4th to 5th at the beginning of this year. LG Energy Solution took the third place with 3.26GWh in China during the same period last year, but fell out of the top five this year.
By Staff Reporter Tae-jun Park (gaius@etnews.com)