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Annual cumulative power use from electric car batteries

Three South Korean battery makers have enjoyed a tandem rise in their share of the global market this year.

According to annual cumulative electric vehicle (EV) battery usage figures published by the market polling firm SNE Research on Sept. 1, LG Chem products ranked first in usage through July 2020 at 13.4 gigawatt-hours (GWh). Its market share was up to 25.1%, a rise of 14.5 percentage points from last year. China’s CATL was close behind at 23.8%. Among South Korean companies, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation ranked fourth and sixth with shares of 6.4% and 4.1%, respectively. Together, the three South Korean companies accounted for a total market share of 35.6%.

The three companies also showed notable upward trends in terms of month-to-month performance. Samsung SDI recorded a 7.3% market share in July, up 2.8 percentage points from the previous month. SK Innovation’s market share also rose by 1.2 percentage points to 4.5%. The three South Korean companies’ combined market share of 38.6% was up by 4.2 percentage points from June. SNE Research interpreted the rising shares as reflecting increased sales of vehicle models using the three companies’ batteries, including the Chinese-produced Tesla Model 3 (LG Chem) and the Audi e-tron (Samsung SDI).

Meanwhile, the Japanese company Panasonic found itself facing a decline. Its annual cumulative market share stood at 18.9%, down 3.9 percentage points from the same period in 2019. For the month of July, its market share amounted to just 13.0%. SNE Research’s calculations of battery market share are based on EV sales in 76 countries.

By Lee Jae-yeon, staff reporter

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