Korean Battery Big 3 Surpass China

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Soyeon]LG Chem, Samsung SDI, and SK Innovation's global electric vehicle battery market share has surpassed 40% for the first time ever, showing rapid growth.

This is analyzed to be due to the sharp decline in market share of CATL, the leading local battery company in China, amid the Chinese market downturn.

According to energy market research firm SNE Research on the 5th, the total battery energy capacity of electric vehicles registered worldwide in February this year reached 5.8 GWh (gigawatt-hours), a 16.5% increase compared to the same period last year.

Japan's Panasonic, ranked first, saw a 74.0% growth in battery usage in February compared to the same period last year, driven by a surge in Tesla Model 3 sales in the U.S., recording a market share of 34.1%.

LG Chem held the second position with a 22.9% share in the battery market in January and increased its share to 29.6% in February, maintaining its second place. Samsung SDI (6.5%) and SK Innovation (5.9%) also increased their shares by 1.4 percentage points (p) and 3.1 p, respectively, compared to the previous month, ranking fifth and sixth.

The combined market share of the three companies rose to 42.0%, more than doubling from 20.9% in February last year.

On the other hand, China's CATL experienced a 46.8% decline in usage in February compared to the same period last year, with its market share dropping significantly from 20.7% to 9.4%. This is attributed to the ongoing Chinese market downturn caused by internal and external factors including the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

SNE Research forecasted, "From March, due to the impact of COVID-19, the U.S. and European markets are expected to shrink significantly, likely leading the battery market into a downturn," adding, "The three Korean battery companies will also face difficulties."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.