LG Energy Solution, SK Innovation raise global battery market shares

LG Energy Solution Ltd. and SK Innovation Co. expanded global battery market shares, leading steady growth in South Korea’s battery industry.

SK Innovation decided to invest 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion) to set up another battery plant in China, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) market.

LG Energy Solution, LG Chem Ltd.’s battery unit, raised its market share to 24.2% in the first seven months of 2021 from 23.4% a year earlier, becoming the world’s No. 2 maker, according to market tracker SNE Research’s report on global battery usage by EV, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) released on Sept. 1.

The increase was powered by strong sales of Tesla China-made Model Y, Volkswagen’s ID.4 and Ford Motor Co.’s Mustang Mach-E that use LG Energy Solution’s batteries.

China’s No. 1 battery maker CATL topped the global producer list as its market share jumped to 30% from 23% with surging EV sales in the mainland.

To capture the growing demand there, SK Innovation decided to expand battery production. The company said it will establish its second battery plant in Yancheng where it is already running a 10 GWh factory. It has two more battery production facilities in China – a 7 GWh plant in Changzhou and a 10 GWh factory in Huizhou.

SK Innovation said it will establish its second battery plant in Yancheng where it is already running a 10 GWh factory. It has two more battery production facilities in China – a 7 GWh plant in Changzhou and a 10 GWh factory in Huizhou.

SK Innovation’s global market share edged up 5.4% during the January-July from 5.3% in the same period of 2020 with its ranking up by one notch to the No. 5 thanks to higher sales of Hyundai Motor Co.’s IONIQ 5 and Kona Electric, as well as Kia Corp.’s Niro EV. SK Innovation supplies batteries to Hyundai’s primary production of models on the E-GMP, its dedicated EV platform.

On the other hand, Samsung SDI Co.’s market share declined to 5.1% from 6.7% as Volkswagen stopped production of the E-Golf, the electric version of its compact hatchback model. Strong sales of Audi’s e-tron, its first electric sport utility vehicle (SUV), and Seat’s Leon PHEV were not able to offset the impact of the E-Golf’s retirement.

(Updated with SK Innovation’s China investment plan)

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.