K-Battery Market Share in Non-China EV Sector Drops by 10 Percentage Points

SNE Research: Global EV Battery Usage from January to July
Korean Big Three Battery Makers See 43% Drop in North American Supply

Due to the stagnation in the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) market, domestic battery companies have seen a significant decrease in their supply volumes. Chinese battery companies are continuing to expand their influence in the global electric vehicle market, even outside of China. There are growing calls for domestic battery companies to shift their strategies.

According to market research firm SNE Research, total battery usage in pure electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), and hybrid vehicles (HEVs) in the global market excluding China reached 316 gigawatt-hours (GWh) from January to July this year.

This figure represents an increase of 25.8% compared to the same period last year, surpassing the overall global market growth rate of 20.4% for that period. As the electric vehicle market in China becomes increasingly saturated, markets outside of China are driving overall global growth.

From January to July this year, the combined battery usage in electric vehicles outside of China by the three major domestic battery makers—LG Energy Solution, SK On, and Samsung SDI—totaled 86.1GWh, down 8.9% from the same period last year. As a result, their combined market share dropped significantly from 37.6% to 27.2%, a decline of 10.4 percentage points.

LG Energy Solution's battery usage fell by 1.7% to 51.6GWh. SK On's usage was 22.2GWh, down 9.9%, and Samsung SDI experienced a 29.4% decrease to 12.3GWh.

The drop in usage in the North American market had a decisive impact. The three domestic battery makers' EV battery usage in North America shrank by 42.9%, from 38.8GWh in the same period last year to 22.2GWh this year. In contrast, usage increased in Europe (from 44.4GWh to 47.4GWh) and Asia (from 9.5GWh to 13.2GWh).

While non-Chinese markets continued to grow at a rate in the mid-20% range, only the three domestic companies saw their usage decline, widening the gap with their Chinese competitors. LG Energy Solution's market share dropped from 20.9% last year to 16.3% this year. SK On's share declined from 9.8% to 7.0%, a decrease of 2.8 percentage points. Samsung SDI's market share also shrank from 6.9% to 3.9%, a drop of 3.0 percentage points.

In contrast, the market share of China's CATL rose from 29.7% to 34.0%, surpassing the one-third mark with a 4.3 percentage point increase. BYD's market share grew from 7.9% to 10.6%, an increase of 2.7 percentage points, exceeding 10% for the first time.

Chinese latecomers such as Gotion, SVOLT, CALB, and EVE are also experiencing rapid growth. SNE Research noted, "These companies are expanding global supply opportunities for automakers in Europe, Asia, and emerging markets as Chinese automakers increase overseas sales," and added, "Based on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) products with strong price competitiveness and local production and partnership strategies, they are quickly expanding their supply reach even in non-Chinese markets."

SNE Research further predicted, "In the future, regional demand trends and policy environments will determine the competitiveness of each company," and, "Not only price competitiveness but also efficiency of production bases in each region, diversification of customer and demand sources, the ability to respond to LFP and next-generation batteries, and ensuring supply chain traceability will become key factors in determining market position."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.