Global power battery ranking in the first quarter: Chinese companies take off Japanese and Korean companies are not OK?

The explosive growth of new energy vehicles has led to a rise in the demand for power batteries, and since 2022, battery companies in various countries have quickly expanded their production capacity and made great efforts in local markets. Looking at the global market, Chinese battery manufacturers have occupied an absolute leading position in terms of market share, and the market share has been rising, while the market share of Japanese and Korean companies has declined.

Global production capacity is mainly concentrated in China, Japan and South Korea TOP10 accounted for more than 91%

According to data from SNE Research, a South Korean market research firm, the total number of power battery installed vehicles worldwide in the first quarter of 2022 was 95.1GWh, an increase of 93.3% over the first quarter of last year. The market share of the top 10 battery companies remains above 90%, and other battery companies account for less than 10%.

Judging from the rankings, China, Japan and South Korea are still the main countries in global battery production capacity, and global production capacity is almost monopolized by them. Among the TOP10 power battery manufacturers, there are as many as 6 Chinese battery companies; South Korean battery companies occupy 3 market seats; and only One Panasonic in Japan is on the list.

The top 10 battery companies in the first quarter were CATL (33.3GWh), LG New Energy (15.1GWh), BYD (10.5GWh), Panasonic (9.4GWh), SK On (6.3GWh), Zhongxin Airlines (4.2GWh), Samsung SDI (3.6GWh), Guoxuan Hi-Tech (2.6GWh), Hive Energy (1.3GWh), and Yiwei Lithium Energy (1.1GWh), with a total of 91.2% of the TOP10.

Among the TOP10 battery companies, 7 battery companies rose very fiercely, while the remaining 3 Japanese and South Korean companies rose by double digits. The 7 companies are NINGDE Times, BYD, SK On, Zhongxin Airlines, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Hive Energy, and Yiwei Lithium Energy, of which the largest increase is BYD, at 220.4%, with a loading volume of 10.5GWh; followed by Zhongxin Airlines, with an increase of 208.7% and a total loading volume of 4.2GWh; and again, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, with an installed capacity of 2.6GWh. Up 180% year-on-year. On the contrary, LG New Energy, Panasonic and Samsung SDI rose in double digits, and Panasonic rose the smallest by only 14.3%.

Chinese enterprises have achieved year-on-year growth The market share of Japan and South Korea has declined significantly

Whether it is from the perspective of year-on-year growth or market share, domestic battery companies have performed well in the global market. After years of accumulation and development, domestic battery companies have obvious advantages in technology and production capacity, and China, as the world's largest new energy vehicle consumption market, has a very strong market demand, which has successfully boosted the "take-off" of domestic batteries.

In the first quarter of 2022, the market share of the six Chinese companies on the list was 56%, far exceeding the combined share of the four Japanese and Korean companies; the market share of 3 Korean companies was 26%, and the market share of Panasonic in Japan was 10%. In the first quarter of 2022, CATL dominated the loading volume, with LG New Energy ranking second, followed by BYD.

Among them, CATL ranked first with an installed capacity of 33.3 GWh, with a market share of more than one-third. In fact, since 2015 to shake off Japan, domestic batteries have been rising in the global proportion for many years, accounting for more than 50%, the future or continue to have a breakthrough.

Year-on-year, the market share of 6 Chinese enterprises such as CATL, BYD, Zhongxin Aviation, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Hive Energy and EWELL Lithium Energy achieved year-on-year growth, in addition to the Korean company SK On. LG New Energy, Panasonic and Samsung SDI market share declined.

According to the analysis, the rise of Korean companies SK On is mainly due to the hot sales of Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Kia NiroEV and EV6. The main major customers of LG New Energy are Tesla, Volkswagen and Audi, and their market share has declined due to the shutdown of factories in Europe and the United States. Samsung SDI mainly supplies batteries for the BMW iX and Fiat 500, and its market share has also been affected.

"King Ning" rides the dust of 2022

"Ning Wang" has won the championship of the total amount of global power batteries for 5 consecutive years, and its layout in the industrial chain has become more and more frequent after entering 2022. CATL expects battery production capacity to reach more than 670GWh by 2025.

In the may that has just entered, the Ningde era is also non-stop. First of all, it will officially release the Kirin battery in the second quarter of this year; secondly, it will actively develop energy storage users. At present, CATL has reached strategic cooperation with leading energy companies such as National Energy Group and State Power Investment; overseas, it has carried out in-depth business cooperation with nextera, Fluence and other top ten international energy storage demand customers; and finally, CATL plans to build a factory in the United States has entered the review stage.

In fact, since last year, domestic power battery companies have built factories to expand production capacity, and CATL, as a leading domestic enterprise, has also achieved year-on-year growth in the economy. According to the annual report of Catalonia Times, in the first quarter of 2022, CATL achieved revenue of 48.678 billion yuan, an increase of 153.97% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the mother was 1.493 billion yuan, down 23.62% year-on-year. This provides impetus for the subsequent capacity output and industrial chain layout of the Ningde era. With the outbreak of the global new energy vehicle market, it is expected that the total number of domestic battery installed vehicles will exceed expectations.

Capacity planning for four companies in Japan and South Korea

Panasonic is inspecting the location of a new plant for electric vehicle batteries in the United States.

Panasonic will spend billions of dollars on the new plant, which is currently under consideration at several locations, including one in Oklahoma and another in Kansas, the sources said. The plant could start operations as early as 2024. In addition, Panasonic plans to produce a newly developed, larger, and more powerful "4680" battery at a new plant in the United States.

In early March, Japan's NHK reported that Panasonic was looking to buy land in the United States, considering spending billions of dollars to build a large factory to produce batteries for Tesla's new electric vehicles.

Samsung SDI has jointly built a battery factory with car companies and carried out trial production of all-solid-state batteries.

South Korean power battery manufacturer Samsung SDI announced that an all-solid-state battery pilot production line in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, has broken ground with a planned area of 6,500 square meters, named "S-Line". However, Samsung SDI did not disclose specific information such as when the pilot line will be completed and the capacity. In addition, Stellantis and Samsung SDI, the world's fourth-largest car companies, will also establish new battery factories in the United States.

Construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2022 and be operational in the first quarter of 2024.

SK On established a joint venture with Ford and Ko Holding to establish a battery company

According to SKI's plan, the annual production capacity of SK On batteries will be expanded to 85GWh in 2023, 220GWh in 2025, and more than 500GWh in 2030.

Recently, South Korea's SK On announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Ford and Ko Holding to form a joint venture to produce electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The plant is scheduled to start operations in 2025 with an annual production capacity of 30-45 GWh.

LG New Energy plans to invest about 36.45 billion yuan this year

LG New Energy plans to invest about 36.45 billion yuan this year to increase the company's global electric vehicle battery production capacity. LG New Energy expects to increase global production capacity to 200GWh by the end of this year and 520GWh by 2025.

At the beginning of February, LG New Energy announced that the company has formally acquired 100% of the shares of NEC Energy Solutions, a U.S.-based energy storage system manufacturer of Nippon Electric Co., Ltd. (NEC), and will try to enter the energy storage system integration market for the new "LG New Energy Vertech".

Summary: In the face of the big cake of the power battery market, battery manufacturers in various countries want to eat a bite. However, based on the strength of the mainland automobile consumer market and the current rise in fuel prices, the domestic market is obviously hotter than the overseas market. However, one of the problems that must be faced is that with the advancement of power battery technology, low cost will become one of the important factors for battery companies to participate in competition in the future. At the same time, the recycling and reuse of power batteries is also a problem facing the development of the industry.