Competition Intensifying Among EV Battery Manufacturers

The three South Korean EV battery companies accounted for 35 percent of the global EV battery usage last year.

The electric vehicle batteries supplied by LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation accounted for 35 percent of the global EV battery usage last year. The three companies’ market share more than doubled from 16 percent in one year.

Under the circumstances, Chinese and European battery manufacturers are trying to catch up. For example, Volkswagen recently formed a partnership with Guoxuan High-Tech, the ninth-largest battery manufacturer in the world. Guoxuan is currently manufacturing EV batteries in the four regions in China including Qingdao and Nanjing and is planning to increase its annual production capacity from 10 GWh to 50 GWh by 2022. Volkswagen and Guoxuan are considering building plants in the United States and Germany. Volkswagen and Swedish startup Northvolt are currently building a plant in Germany.

PSA, in the meantime, set up a joint venture with Total in order to produce batteries in France and Germany. Geely Auto and Chinese battery manufacturer Farasis are going to build a factory together. Meanwhile, the joint venture project of Geely and LG Energy Solution announced in 2019 is at a standstill.

The South Korean companies are rapidly increasing their investments with the global EV battery market growing fast. LG Energy Solution, which has facilities in Michigan, Nanjing and Wrocław as well as South Korea, is aiming to increase its capacity from 120 GWh to 155 GWh this year and to 260 GWh by 2023.

SK Innovation’s current capacity is 40 GWh and 9.8 GWh is expected to be added once its second plant in Hungary is put into operation in the first quarter of this year. Its target for 2025 is 125 GWh. Samsung SDI is aiming to increase its capacity from 30 GWh to 42 GWh this year.