CATL and BYD Account for 70% of Chinese Market
Market research firm SNE Research reported on June 17 that the use of electric vehicle (EV) batteries in China totaled 19.0 GWh in the first four months of this year with a year-on-year increase of 240 percent. The use of the products of the top 10 EV battery suppliers including CATL and BYD increased 147.7 percent to 17 GWh and the two Chinese companies accounted for no less than 70 percent of the total while the others’ market share continued to fall.
CATL is participating in Volkswagen’s MEB project and expanding its partnership with Daimler, BMW, etc. Runner-up BYD is increasing its electric bus and truck battery supply in North America, Europe and Asia. The gap between the two and the others on the top 10 list is likely to continue to widen.
This is mainly because of the Chinese government’s policy. It has significantly reduced its EV battery subsidies since last year, causing the latter to have a hard time. Optimum Nano, which had been the third-largest player in the Chinese market in 2016 and 2017, dropped to 50th in 2018 and 60th this year. Experts point out that the Chinese EV battery market is in the middle of restructuring and only a handful of big companies will survive in the end. The subsidies are scheduled to be abolished in 2021.