Global EV battery makers raise output by 83% on year in January-April: SNE Research

Global manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries increased their combined production by 83.4% year on year to 122.9 GWh over January-April, data from South Korea's SNE Research showed June 2.

China's CATL, or Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd, led the manufacturers by more than doubling its output to 41.5 GWh against 19.4 GWh the year before. CATL also increased its share of the overall output to 33.7% from 28.9% annually.

BYD Co., also China-based, saw its sales more than triple to 14.9 GWh in the first four months against 4.6 GWh the year before. BYD also nearly doubled its share of overall global output to 12.1% from 6.8%.

The global manufacturers' production over January to April amounts to 41.4% of the 296.8 GWh registered in 2021.

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SNE Research said the EV battery market showed steady growth over the past 22 months despite the coronavirus pandemic.

CATL and South Korea's LG Energy Solution saw their share of overall output fall to 29.6% and 12.8%, respectively, in April from 30.1% and 25.1% in April 2021.

"Affected by the disruptions in Tesla factories due to the China lockdowns, CATL and LG Energy Solutions went through declines in their growth rate compared to the previous month, but they are expected to soon return to the trajectory they used to be in," SNE Research said.

LGES officially named on June 2 its joint venture with automaker Stellantis as NextStar Energy, and reiterated its plans to start construction of the joint venture's 45 GWh plant in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, over the second half of 2022.

Costing Won 4.8 trillion ($3.86 billion), the plant is scheduled to begin production over the first half of 2024, and its battery cells will be used in Stellantis vehicle brands such as Chrysler and Jeep.

LGES aims to have a global production capacity of 520 GWh/year by 2025, a more than 2.6-fold increase from current levels, with 41% of the output based in North America.

Global EV battery makers are expected to increase their combined production capacity to 1,273 GWh in 2022, up 28.1% from 994 GWh in 2021, SNE Research projected in May.