Chinese Battery Giant CATL Leads Global Power Battery Shipments

South Korean automotive industry research firm SNE Research published data on power battery shipments for the first two months of this year on Thursday, showing total shipment volume of 53.5 GWh, an increase of more than 100% from the previous year.

Among them, the shipments and market share of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited. (CATL) were 18.4 GWh and 34.4%, respectively, ranking first, further increasing its market share compared with the same period last year.

The top five entities on the list were CATL, Korean firm LG Energy Solution, Chinese manufacturer BYD, Japanese company Panasonic and South Korean company SK On.

LG Energy Solution shipments were 7.4 GWh, up 37.6% year-on-year. Panasonic was surpassed  by BYD, which entered the top three with a market share of 11.9%.

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Panasonic ranked fourth with 5.8 GWh in shipments and a 10.8% market share. SK On ranked fifth with 3.5 GWh shipments and a 6.5% market share. It is the power battery supplier of models including Hyundai IONIQ 5, Kia Niro and Kia EV6.

Competition in the power battery market is becoming more and more fierce. CATL previously announced that it will release its “Kirin” cell-to-pack battery in April this year. Wu Kai, chief scientist of the battery company, said that under the same chemical system and the same battery pack size, the power of the Kirin battery pack can be increased by 13% compared with a 4680 battery.

As the biggest competitor of CATL, LG Energy Solution recently announced that it will invest $1.4 billion to build a battery production base in the United States before 2024, which is the first cylindrical battery factory of the company.