CATL reduces gap with LG Energy Solution

South Korean battery makers are feeling the heat from the surge of Chinese competition, as Chinese battery giant CATL continues to expand its global presence outside its home turf.

According to Korean market tracker SNE Research on Thursday, CATL’s worldwide battery usage outside China reached 64 gigawatt-hours from January to September this year, jumping 104.9 percent from the same period last year. The Chinese company’s global market share rose by almost 7 percentage points to be on par with LG Energy Solution’s market share of 28.1 percent.

Despite LG Energy Solution’s 49.2 percent growth in the first three quarters of this year, the Korean company’s global market share dipped 1.1 percentage points from last year’s figure due to CATL’s rise. Other Korean battery makers -- SK On and Samsung SDI -- increased their global battery usage by 13.7 percent and 41.4 percent, respectively, to 24.4 GWh and 21.6 GWh, ranked them as the fourth- and fifth-largest battery makers in the world, respectively.

According to the market tracker, the three Korean companies’ combined global market share decreased by 5.8 percentage points to 48.3 percent.

SNE Research said the global battery installment in electric vehicles logged 228 GWh from January to September, up 54.9 percent on year, as the automakers’ EV sales recorded upbeat numbers.

BYD, the world’s biggest EV manufacturer, dramatically upped its battery usage to 4.1 GWh in the first three quarters of this year, jumping 539.4 percent on year. Farasis Energy, another Chinese battery maker, showed a 158.4 percent growth during the same period to log 3 GWh.

“Chinese companies including CATL are rapidly expanding their global market shares as they show higher growth in markets outside China than the growth rates in the Chinese market,” said SNE Research.

“CATL’s batteries are loaded onto vehicles of major (original equipment manufacturers) such as Tesla Model 3 and Y along with BMW, MG, Mercedes and Volvo. Recently, Hyundai’s new Kona and Kia’s EV Ray have been equipped with CATL’s batteries, expanding the Chinese company’s influence in the domestic market.”

According to an SNE Research report published earlier this week, CATL led the global battery competition including the Chinese domestic market with 36.8 percent, followed by BYD with a 15.8 percent market share. LG Energy Solution came in at third place with a 14.3 percent market share.