With electric vehicle battery installation growing globally despite a slowdown in EV sales, Chinese battery makers have gained a larger footprint in the sector in the first ten months of this year. Experts said a supply surplus in the lithium carbonate industry drove down prices of raw materials, benefiting battery makers and buoying the EV sector. China’s battery firms are poised to grow further amid ongoing price declines and advancements in technology, they added.
According to global consultancy SNE Research, the global installation of EV batteries reached about 552.2 gigawatt- hours in the first 10 months, marking a 44% increase compared to the same period last year, and overtaking the total of 2022. Six out of the top 10 battery makers in terms of installed capacity are Chinese, with their market share taking up 63.3% of the global total in the first 10 months of the year, a 4.5-percentage-point increase from the same period last year. “China’s supply chain of EV batteries has advantages in production costs, capacity, technological innovation and high-quality services, making it competitive among fiercer global competition as the EV market slows,” said Zhou Mi, Senior Researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing. UBS Securities recently lowered its projection for global EV sales. The firm previously anticipated EVs would constitute 20% of global new car sales by 2024 and an increase to 54% by 2030. However, its latest forecasts show 18% and 47%, respectively, citing the current slowdown in EV sales in Europe and North America.
Tightened market demand for EVs appears to have limited influence on major Chinese EV battery makers. According to SNE Research, Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co (CATL) topped the installation list with an installation of 203.8 gigawatt-hours in the first 10 months, growing by 51.1% year-on-year. CATL secured a market share of 36.9% in the first 10 months. CATL is the global leader as it is the only battery supplier with a market share of more than 35%. Leveraging the global trend of increased adoption of lithium iron phosphate batteries, CATL’s installation figure outside China has nearly doubled compared to the same period last year, SNE said. Another Chinese battery producer, EVE Energy Co, demonstrated triple-digit growth, with its battery installations reaching 11.7 GWh from January to October, a 128.1% increase year-on-year. Wang Lei, Analyst of new energy at a research institute under China Post Securities, said the drop in raw material prices, resulting from an imbalance in the supply-demand scenario and fierce competition in the upstream lithium industry, has brought many benefits to battery makers, the China Daily reports.
Meanwhile, China has asked the United States to retract its discriminatory measure of excluding Chinese electric vehicles and related products from obtaining tax credits from next year. As competition is key to technological advances in the EV industry, the U.S. should respect market principles, strictly adhere to WTO rules, correct discriminatory subsidy practices, and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory business climate, He Yadong, Spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said at a news conference. The Ministry also called on the European Commission, which decided to launch an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese EVs in October, to abandon its protectionist act, and deepen trade and investment cooperation between the automobile industries of China and Europe.
