Financial Times: Chinese battery makers strengthen grip on global supply and...

Chinese battery manufacturers have extended their dominance over global supply, with the top two producers - battery giant CATL and EV maker BYD - reaching a combined market share of 50.7%, and leaving South Korean and Japanese rivals lagging behind, reported Financial Times on January 4.

Kevin Shang, an energy storage analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said CATL's strengths in technology development, supply chain control, economies of scale and relationships with carmakers had given it the upper hand.

CATL, supplier to carmakers including Tesla and Volkswagen, more than doubled battery sales to 165.7 gigawatt hours in the 11 months to the end of November, according to data from Korea's SNE Research — enough for roughly 3.3 million average-sized electric vehicles.

Now CATL leads as the world's biggest producer and takes with a market share of 37.1%, up from 32.2% in 2021.

The SNE report also showed "frightening" growth at China's second-largest cell producer and EV manufacturer BYD, whose battery sales almost tripled to 60GWh over the same period to give it a 13.6% market share.

Meanwhile, China Passenger Car Association expects the country's electric car sales growth to slow to 30% this year as Chinese government ends its policy of subsidies, after doubling to 6.4 million-6.5 million vehicles in 2022, said the FT report.

The SNE figures represent the battery capacity installed in electric cars that have been sold, meaning the ranking is influenced by model launches among carmakers with which they have supply relationships.

A further factor for the Chinese groups' growth has been the shortages and high prices of raw materials such as nickel and lithium that have encouraged adoption of cheaper Chinese batteries by European car companies such as Volkswagen and Volvo, SNE said.

In addition, CATL has ridden out some of the pressures that battery manufacturers are facing from soaring raw material prices, with net profit almost trebling in the second and third quarters following an unexpected drop in the first.

The deepening of CATL's dominance in the industry comes as it pursues international expansion across Europe and North America.

The company last month started producing cells from its German battery facility, its first outside China, which will be followed by a huge 100GWh plant in Hungary, said the FT report.

(HX Chen)