Produced by ZhiNeng Auto
Battery data for August is out, with month-on-month growth turning positive across the board in August.
On the production side, year-on-year output surged by nearly 70%, while domestic battery installations only grew by a little over 20%. The excess capacity is still driven by exports and energy storage.
Part 1: Production, Sales, and Vehicle Installations
In August, the combined production of power and energy storage batteries reached 237.0 GWh, up 8.8% month-on-month and 69.8% year-on-year. Calculated based on the proportion of power batteries in the monthly sales, the power battery output for August was approximately 155.9 GWh.
From January to August, the cumulative total was 1,523.9 GWh, up 57.0% year-on-year.
August sales reached 223.1 GWh, up 20.5% month-on-month and 65.9% year-on-year.
◎ Power batteries reached 146.8 GWh, accounting for 65.8%,
◎ Energy storage reached 76.3 GWh, accounting for 34.2%, up 114.3% year-on-year.
The energy storage sector has been growing faster than the power battery sector this year, with a month-on-month increase of 36.0% in August alone.
Exports in August reached 42.4 GWh, up 20.4% month-on-month and 87.5% year-on-year, accounting for 19.0% of the month's sales.
◎ Energy storage exports reached 17.7 GWh, up 134.2% year-on-year, more than doubling. European automakers are switching from ternary to LFP and scaling up large-scale procurement from China.
◎ Power battery exports reached 24.7 GWh, up 64.0% year-on-year and 3.1% month-on-month, as European demand recovers from the stagnation in July.
Domestic battery installations reached 79.0 GWh, up 5.9% month-on-month and 26.3% year-on-year. From January to August, the cumulative total was 489.1 GWh, up 17.0% year-on-year.
Material structure of battery installations:
◎ LFP reached 67.6 GWh, accounting for 85.6%,
◎ Ternary reached 11.0 GWh, accounting for 14.0%.
Ternary batteries saw a mere 0.9% year-on-year growth, with demand essentially stagnating. LFP, on the other hand, grew by 31.0% year-on-year and continues to expand.
By vehicle type, pure electric passenger vehicles accounted for 61.3%, pure electric trucks 20.1% (up 56.8% year-on-year), and special-purpose vehicles up 57.9%.
The new source of battery growth this year is clear: the electrification of commercial vehicles, with heavy trucks, light trucks, logistics vehicles, and engineering vehicles catching up. In August, pure electric models contributed 84.3% of the installed capacity, while plug-in hybrids accounted for 15.7%.
The average battery capacity per vehicle in August was 69.0 kWh, up 27.9% year-on-year.
◎ Pure electric passenger vehicles: 64.2 kWh; plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles: 41.2 kWh.
◎ In terms of range distribution, the 600-800 km segment accounts for 37.8% and is the main segment, while the 500-600 km segment accounts for 27.3%. Together, these two segments make up over 60%, and the proportion of long-range pure electric vehicles continues to rise.
Part 2: Domestic Suppliers
◎ In August, CATL's battery installations reached 32.54 GWh, with a market share of 41.45%, down 0.89 percentage points month-on-month;
◎ BYD reached 16.47 GWh, accounting for 20.98%, up 1.75 percentage points month-on-month. The two combined account for 62.4%.
◎ In the second tier, CALB is at 6.51%, EVE at 5.95%, and Gotion at 5.87%, with all three clustered around 6%.
For ternary batteries, it is mainly CATL and LG.
◎ CATL reached 7.4 GWh, accounting for 66.8%, but dropped 8.98 percentage points month-on-month, a rare pullback this year.
◎ LG Energy Solution reached 1.6 GWh, accounting for 14.5%, up 7.93 percentage points month-on-month.
The ternary battery pool is small, with CATL dominating.
LFP:
◎ CATL reached 25.17 GWh, accounting for 37.31%, and BYD reached 16.47 GWh, accounting for 24.41%. The two account for over 60%.
◎ Behind them, EVE, CALB, and Gotion are all squeezed between 6.8% and 6.9%. The LFP market is much more dispersed than the ternary market.
For new energy passenger vehicles,
◎ CATL reached 24.43 GWh, accounting for 40.30%, and BYD reached 14.80 GWh, accounting for 24.42%. The two account for nearly 65%.
◎ For pure electric passenger vehicles, CATL holds 42.93% and BYD 22.69%; for plug-in hybrids, CATL holds 29.89%, BYD 27.32%, SVOLT 11.12%, and Sunwoda 9.43%. There are more suppliers in the plug-in hybrid segment, leaving room for the second tier.
Commercial vehicles present a different picture.
◎ CATL remains first with 8.11 GWh, accounting for 44.21%;
◎ The second place goes to EVE with 3.17 GWh, accounting for 17.29%. CALB ranks third with 11.03%, while BYD only has 9.09%.
◎ EVE's overall market share is only 5.95%, but it jumps to 17.29% in commercial vehicles. High-capacity heavy trucks are its core base.
Summary
Battery production remains highly active, with month-on-month growth turning positive across the board in August. Exports and energy storage are the main drivers absorbing the incremental growth. As passenger vehicle automakers actively choose second-tier battery companies, we will see what changes reflect in the subsequent data.