China’s October Installed Battery Capacity Totals 30.5 GWh, CATL Ranks First

On November 10, China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance released its monthly data for batteries in October this year. In the past month, China’s battery output totaled 62.8 GWh, up 150.1% year-on-year and 6.2% quarter-on-quarter. In the same period, the installed capacity of power batteries was 30.5 GWh, up 98.1% year-on-year and down 3.5% quarter-on-quarter. In addition, China’s battery export volume totaled 14.7 GWh.

In the total installed capacity, the ternary battery had a volume of 10.8 GWh, accounting for 35.4% of the total capacity, an increase of 55.2% year-on-year and a decrease of 3.5% quarter-on-quarter; installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries was 19.7 GWh, accounting for 64.4% of the total loading capacity, up 133.2% year-on-year and down 3.6% quarter-on-quarter.

In terms of manufacturer rankings, CATL, BYD and CALB ranked among the top three in October, with installed capacities of 14.76 GWh, 7.74 GWh and 2.06 GWh respectively, with a total market share of 80.45%.

It is worth noting that in the field of lithium iron phosphate batteries, the installed capacity of CATL and BYD is very close, and the market share difference between these two companies is only 1.44%. However, in the field of ternary lithium battery installation, CATL still leads with a market share 52.08% higher than that of CALB, who sits in second place.

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Over the past six years, CATL has been the first and foremost battery company in the country, occupying nearly half of the market. Robin Zeng, founder and chairman of CATL, predicted that the installed capacity of batteries in the world will reach 4,800 GWh in 2030, and 1 GWh battery will be worth about 1 billion yuan ($137.8 million), which is a big slice of a nearly 5 trillion-yuan scale.

China’s battery companies are still increasing their production capacities. CATL and FinDreams Battery, a subsidiary of BYD, both have built production capacity exceeding 150 GWh, and most second-tier Chinese battery companies have tens of GWh of production capacity. From last year to this year, the production capacity difference between these companies and industry leader CATL has been narrowing. The quickest to catch up have been Sunwoda, CALB and FinDreams Battery, with growth rates of 1300%, 656% and 108.2% respectively. Meanwhile, SVOLT, CALB and Gotion Hi-Tech have set production capacities for the year 2025 at 600 GWh, 500 GWh and 300 GWh, respectively.

In addition, all companies plan to build production capacity outside of China to meet global demand and localize their supply chains. EVE Energy’s factory in Hungary has already begun construction while SVOLT has announced its plans to build a factory in Germany this year, and CALB announced its own plan to build a factory in Portugal.