BYD Blade battery pack

Korean EV battery companies corner 42 per cent global share

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A report from SNE Research has said that Korean EV battery companies have now captured 42 per cent of the global market share with LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation topping the Korean list. The data is for the month of February 2020.

While LG Chem has a share of 29.6 per cent, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation have 6.5 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively for a total of 42 per cent. Japan’s Panasonic (that supplies to Tesla Motors) took the number one spot with an individual share of 34.1 per cent. It seems that the Koreans and Japanese are trying to get the advantage back from China and they are succeeding. Where Chinese companies lost their share from 32.8 per cent to 11.1 per cent, Japanese increased their performance from 33.2 per cent to 45.8.

Global top 10 EV battery firms market share

Panasonic (Japan)34.10%
LG Chem (Korea)29.60%
CATL (China)9.40%
AESC (Japan)7.70%
Samsung SDI (Korea)6.50%
SK Innovation (Korea)5.90%
PEVE (Japan)2.60%
BYD (China)1.70%
LEJ (Japan)1.00%
BEC (Japan)0.40%

LG Chem also became the new leader of the passenger xEV battery segment that includes Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV). In terms of battery deployment, the total amounted to 5.2 GWh, with LG Chem accounting for 34.6 per cent or 1.8 GWh. Other top players in the segment include Panasonic, CATL, Samsung SDI, AESC, and BYD which has just come out with a breakthrough in technology with the ‘Blade’ battery.

MESMA 350V platform side
Contemporary Amperex Technology, China’s biggest EV battery manufacturer supplies to BMW, Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover, Honda, Toyota and Volvo. LG Chem is a supplier to the Mahindra eXUV300 project that rides on the MESMA platform.

Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, China’s domestic players CATL and BYD were impacted with poor sales but LG Chem profited from strong demand in the European market, with models like Hyundai Kona Electric, Audi e-tron and Jaguar I-Pace opting for the South Korean’s battery packs. Demand for the Hyundai Kona is set to increase with the company opening a production line in Europe last month with batteries sourced from Poland, whereas the e-tron posted a strong 2019 and is looking to do more in 2020 and 2021.

LG Chem is a supplier to the Mahindra eXUV300 electric SUV

In India, LG Chem has already partnered with Mahindra & Mahindra to develop high energy lithium-ion battery cells. Mahindra eXUV300, powered by the MESMA 350V architecture, will be getting battery cells exclusively developed by LG Chem, while Hyundai is expected to feature LG Chem to its list of suppliers for the ‘Smart EV’ project that takes flight with the launch of a mini electric SUV in 2022.

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