According to the data recently released by the South Korean market analysis firm SNE Research, the total battery pack installation volume of electric vehicles (including hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric) registered worldwide in 2025 reached 1,187 GWh, increasing by 31.7% year-on-year. This continues the high growth trend observed in recent years.
From the list of the top ten global battery powertrain vehicle installation companies, Chinese enterprises continue to hold a dominant position, with six spots. They are CATL, BYD, ChinaNanoEnergy, Gotion, EVOLIT, and Hocar Energy. The combined market share has exceeded 70.4% for the first time. The other four are still Panasonic from Japan, and the three major battery manufacturers from South Korea – LG New Energy, SK On, and Samsung SDI. The growth rates of Japanese and Korean enterprises are far lower than those of Chinese automakers. Even Samsung SDI’s battery vehicle installation volume has declined. It can be seen that the cooling of the European and American electric vehicle market has had a significant impact on Japanese and Korean battery manufacturers.
01 Head stable, second line surges ahead. Market share of Chinese enterprises reaches new high.
According to the recent statistics from SNE Research, the global battery power vehicle installation volume has achieved stable and rapid growth from 2017 to 2024, reaching 59GWh, 100GWh, 118GWh, 148GWh, 308GWh, 515GWh, 710GWh, and 899GWh respectively. The annual compound growth rate has reached 47.5% on average. In 2025, the global battery power vehicle market size will exceed 1100GWh for the first time. However, compared with the rapid growth in previous years, the growth of global battery power vehicle installation volume has slowed down in recent years. This can be seen from the 31.7% year-on-year growth rate in 2025. This is mainly due to the continuous expansion of the global sales base of electric vehicles and the slowdown in growth rate, which has been transmitted to the upstream battery power vehicle sector. Moreover, many multinational car manufacturers have begun to adjust the pace of their electrification transformation.
From the perspective of market structure, the concentration of leading enterprises has further increased. By 2025, the combined market share of the top ten global battery power enterprises will rise to 89.5%, accounting for nearly 90% of the total. The Malthusian effect in the industry has become increasingly prominent.
Among them, Chinese manufacturers hold an absolute dominant position in the global automotive battery power market. From 2022 to 2024, in the top ten global battery power vehicle installation volume rankings, the combined market share of Chinese enterprises was 60.4%, 63.5%, and 67.1% respectively. In 2025, it further increased to 70.4%. It can be seen that the market share of Chinese battery power enterprises continues to steadily rise.
From the top 10 list for 2025, the rankings of CATL, BYD, ChinaNano, Gotion, and Yiliu Lithium Energy remained relatively stable. However, Hukong Energy replaced Xinhua Wangda and entered the top 10. As for the growth rate, most Chinese battery manufacturers generally maintained a high growth rate of 30% to 80%, among which Gotion had the highest growth rate, and the growth rates of Yiliu Lithium Energy and Hukong Energy both exceeded 60%.
From the perspective of market share, CATL (Ningde Times) has maintained its position as the global champion in the battery power market with a 39.2% share. This is its ninth consecutive year at the top, and it has further increased compared to 2024’s 38%. In terms of the competitive landscape, CATL has significant advantages. Its vehicle production volume is nearly 2.4 times that of the second-ranked BYD. The competitive advantages of CATL mainly lie in technology iteration, scale and cost control, globalization and customer binding. Besides many Chinese automotive brands, overseas automakers such as Tesla, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen Group also widely adopt CATL’s batteries.
The second place goes to BYD, with its battery installation volume increasing by 27.7% in 2025, reaching 194.8 GWh. Compared with other Chinese counterparts, BYD’s battery installation volume growth rate slowed down in the past year. The main reason is that BYD’s batteries are mainly self-supplied, with limited contributions from third parties; in addition, the rise of second-tier battery manufacturers and the still-in-progress overseas expansion have led to a slowdown in the growth momentum of BYD’s battery installation volume. However, BYD is also actively expanding its external customers. Relevant data shows that in the first three quarters of 2025, the proportion of BYD’s battery exports has exceeded 20%.
Over the past year, the battery pack production volume of China’s second-tier battery power enterprises has all achieved rapid growth, with an increase of over 50%. The main reasons for this are as follows: First, the improvement of technological innovation capabilities, achieving breakthroughs in semi-solid batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and lamination processes, and the product performance gradually approaching that of leading enterprises; second, the optimization of customer structure, gradually entering the supply chains of international automakers such as Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz; third, the acceleration of global layout, establishing production bases in Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America, to closely meet the overseas market demand and reduce transportation costs and trade risks.
Among them, ChinaNanoEnergy’s vehicle installation volume increased by 52.6% year-on-year, reaching 62.8 GWh, ranking fourth globally. It provides deep-level support to brands such as Guangzhou Automobile, Changan Automobile, Xiaopeng, NIO, and LiDi, covering major new energy vehicle manufacturers. Additionally, Goxing Gaode saw an increase of 82.5% and its vehicle installation volume reached 53.5 GWh. It provides support for popular models such as Chery Starway, Geely Galaxy, Changan Qi’uan, and Zolat, with many models achieving monthly sales of over 10,000 units. It has also become a core supplier of standard lithium-ion cells for Volkswagen and has received long-term stable orders. Through the research and application of large-capacity cylindrical battery technology, Yiliwei Liang has formed a differentiated competitive advantage in terms of technology compared to its peers. Since 2025, Yiliwei Liang has successively announced to become the designated supplier for several automakers such as FAW Benetton and Changan, and has deepened its ties with multinational automakers such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz. As for Hechuan Energy, in addition to providing support for Great Wall, its short blade battery has been recognized by international customers such as Stellantis, BMW, and VinFast; overseas orders have grown by three times, making it the core growth engine.
02 Weak demand, loss of orders – the market share of Japanese and Korean manufacturers continues to decline.
Compared with the rapid growth of Chinese enterprises, the growth rates of Japanese and Korean enterprises are generally lower than the industry average. This has led to a continuous decline in their market share.
Taking the three major battery giants in South Korea as an example, in 2025, the combined market share of LG New Energy, SK On and Samsung SDI decreased by 3.4 percentage points, dropping to 15.3%. Among them, LG New Energy’s vehicle shipment volume reached 108.8 GWh, increasing by 11.3%, with its market share dropping from 10.9% to 9.2%; SK On’s vehicle shipment volume reached 44.5 GWh, increasing by 12.3%, with its market share dropping from 4.4% to 3.7%; Samsung SDI’s vehicle shipment volume reached 28.9 GWh, decreasing by 6.9%, with its market share dropping from 3.4% to 2.4%, being the only one among the top ten to experience negative growth. The market share of Japanese battery manufacturer Panasonic was 3.7%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point compared to 2024.
The market share of Japanese and Korean enterprises has declined, mainly due to the following factors: Firstly, the demand for electric vehicles in Europe and the United States has weakened, and the policy direction has changed, causing automakers to adjust their pace of electrification transformation. As a result, the orders of Japanese and Korean enterprises have been greatly affected. Data shows that in 2025, the sales of pure electric vehicles in Europe increased by 29.7% year-on-year, reaching 258.5 million units; although it showed an improvement compared to 2024, the growth rate was significantly slower than in previous years. Additionally, the EU plans to cancel the fuel vehicle ban that will come into effect in 2035. This policy shift not only lowered consumers’ expectations for electrification transformation but also made the electricization strategies of automakers more cautious.
Looking at the US market, the sales of pure electric vehicles dropped by 2% in 2025, reaching 12.757 million units. This was the first annual decline in nearly a decade. It is worth noting that with the Trump administration officially canceling the $7,500 US federal tax credit for electric vehicles at the end of the third quarter of 2025, the sales of pure electric vehicles in the US decreased by 36% year-on-year and plummeted by 46% month-on-month in the fourth quarter. As the major markets of Japanese and Korean enterprises are concentrated in Europe and the United States, the weakening demand directly affected the battery vehicle installation volume of these companies.
Take LG New Energy as an example. The growth rate of its vehicle installation volume in the European and American markets dropped from 25% in 2024 to 10% in 2025, which was much lower than its growth rate in the global market. Samsung SDI’s vehicle installation volume in the European and American markets even experienced a negative growth, decreasing by 15%, becoming the main reason for its overall performance decline.
The forecast by the BMI consulting agency indicates that the growth rate of global electric vehicle sales will drop to 13% in 2026. Among them, the US market will be the most dismal. The total sales volume in 2026 will plummet by 29% from 1.5 million in 2025 to 1.1 million; the growth rate in the European market will also slow down significantly to 14%, reaching 4.9 million.
The competitive pressure from Chinese enterprises is also a significant factor contributing to the continuous decline in market share of Japanese and Korean rivals. Chinese battery power enterprises have quickly established a foothold in the overseas market by leveraging their cost and technological advantages, seizing market shares from Japanese and Korean companies. In terms of technical routes and product structures, Japanese and Korean enterprises previously mainly focused on high-nickel ternary batteries, and their layout for technologies such as lithium iron phosphate batteries and sodium-ion batteries was relatively late. In recent years, the penetration rate of global lithium iron phosphate batteries in the vehicle-mounted power battery shipments has shown a continuous upward trend, reaching over 50% for the first time in 2024 and estimated to reach 60% in 2026. Due to their lagging layout in the lithium iron phosphate battery field, Japanese and Korean enterprises lack competitiveness in the mid-to-low-end new energy vehicle market.
In 2026, Japanese and South Korean battery enterprises may face even more severe setbacks in the European and American markets. A recent wave of cancelled battery orders serves as an example. Ford not only cancelled the battery agreement worth 9.6 trillion won with LG Energy Solution, but also announced its withdrawal from the battery joint venture with SK On in the United States; the American battery component manufacturer FB-PS, due to its complete withdrawal from the battery business, terminated the supply agreement worth approximately 3.9 trillion won with LG Energy Solution. In the recent period, multinational automakers such as Stellantis, Ford, and Honda have concentrated on making huge write-downs of assets related to their electric vehicle businesses. The strategic contraction of the original equipment manufacturers is bound to intensify the downward pressure on the battery industry.
03 Overseas markets become the core growth engine, and competition between Chinese and foreign enterprises has become extremely intense.
In 2025, Chinese battery power enterprises, leveraging their technological, cost, and industrial chain advantages, will achieve a leapfrog upgrade from product exports to local production capacity, global customer reach, and local operation. Their overseas expansion will enter a new stage of large-scale implementation and high-quality growth. Overseas business will become the core engine for industry growth, and the competition between Chinese and foreign lithium battery enterprises in the international market will become increasingly fierce.
According to data from SNE Research, in 2025, the global market excluding China saw a total battery vehicle installation capacity of 463 GWh, an increase of 26% year-on-year. In 2025, the top ten global battery vehicle installation capacity also included six Chinese automakers, compared to four in 2024. Among them, CATL remained at the top, BYD rose to fifth place, GSV replaced Tesla to become the seventh on the list, and HeCang Energy replaced PPES to rank ninth on the list; Funeng Technology and China Innovation Battery maintained their positions unchanged, ranking eighth and tenth on the list respectively.
Overall, in 2025, the cumulative vehicle production capacity of the six Chinese enterprises – CATL, BYD, GESHI, Fonepower, Hukong Energy, and Sinovation – in the overseas battery power market reached 218 GWh, with a market share of 47.2%, almost accounting for nearly half of the overseas market share. Compared to 2024, it increased by nearly 10 percentage points.
Many Chinese lithium battery manufacturers have achieved local production overseas. Among them, Europe is the main target for the expansion of Chinese enterprises. The German factory of CATL is operating at full capacity, the first phase of the Hungarian factory has been completed, Gotion Gaoke’s German base is providing stable supplies, the Portuguese factory of Sinovation Power, BYD Lianxiang, and Xiangwangda’s Hungarian factory are all accelerating the process of local production. These enterprises have formed a cluster supply system in Europe, closely serving mainstream European car manufacturers such as Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis.
The Southeast Asian market is also a hot spot for Chinese lithium battery enterprises to “go global”, and has formed a pattern centered around Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. From single-site factory construction to multi-country collaboration and full-chain deep penetration, the layout has shifted. The core focuses on resource locking, vehicle component supply, and local compliance. Indonesia, relying on its globally leading nickel ore resources, has become the core for Chinese enterprises’ full-chain layout. CATL has built an integrated base covering nickel ore mining to battery recycling here; Thailand, with its mature automotive industry and tax incentives, focuses on vehicle component supply, and BYD, Xingwangda, etc. have set up battery factories there; Malaysia has formed a material and cell cluster, and companies like Yili Lithium Energy and Xingyuan Materials have concentrated their investments.
In 2025, the overseas revenue share of China’s leading lithium battery enterprises will generally exceed 25%. Among them, CATL, as the global leader, has an overseas battery shipment ratio of over 30%, with a market share in Europe approaching 40%, firmly ranking first in the region; BYD Energy has an overseas revenue share of 25%, opening up the high-end markets in Europe and America with large cylindrical batteries; Hikari Energy’s overseas shipment ratio has exceeded 30% for the first time, and its overseas business has become its core growth engine; BYD’s overseas shipment ratio is also continuously increasing, achieving battery exports in coordination with vehicle exports through the export of complete vehicles; Gotion and Sinovation have overseas revenue shares and overseas shipment ratios exceeding 30% each, achieving rapid expansion through key customers such as Volkswagen and Stellantis. Overall, overseas business has become a strategic pillar for Chinese lithium battery enterprises, significantly enhancing their risk-resistance capabilities and profit stability.
The power battery giants from Japan and South Korea are also “full-bore” in the overseas market. They are shifting from fully betting on lithium-ion batteries to focusing on lithium-iron phosphate batteries, launching a new offensive in the European market. In the European market, Korean battery manufacturers are forming deep partnerships with European automakers. Among them, LG Energy Solution signed two supply agreements with Mercedes-Benz in September 2025, with a total capacity of 107 GWh; previously, it also reached a cooperation agreement with Renault, and will supply lithium-iron phosphate batteries to multiple models of Renault and Alpine starting from 2026. Samsung SDI is one of the core suppliers for BMW, Audi, etc. in Europe, while SK On has long-term cooperation with Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz. In the North American market, several Korean battery manufacturers are converting their existing production facilities into lithium-iron phosphate battery production lines to seize the North American energy storage and economy-oriented electric vehicle markets.
04 The energy storage market has become a “safe haven” – with full-scale planning and resource allocation.
For mainstream lithium battery enterprises, as the sales growth rate of electric vehicles worldwide slows down, the battery power business has been affected to some extent. The urgency for expanding new businesses is becoming more prominent. Under such circumstances, energy storage has become the second growth curve that many battery manufacturers are exploring, and its revenue contribution is continuously increasing. According to the data from SNE Research, the total global shipment of energy storage batteries will reach 550 GWh in 2025, with a year-on-year growth rate of 79%, which is 2.5 times that of the battery power market.
The rapid growth of the energy storage market is mainly attributed to the following factors: Firstly, the installed capacity of renewable energy sources has increased rapidly, and the intermittent and fluctuating nature of renewable energy requires energy storage systems to regulate; Secondly, the policy support has been strengthened, with various countries around the world introducing a series of policies to support the development of the energy storage industry, such as subsidies, tax incentives, mandatory storage allocation, etc., which has promoted the popularization of the energy storage market; Thirdly, the cost of energy storage systems has significantly decreased, and the cost-performance ratio has improved, which has driven the market demand.
The explosive growth of the energy storage market has provided new growth opportunities for battery power enterprises. Battery power and energy storage batteries share high homogeneity in technical principles, production processes, and industrial chains. Battery power enterprises possess inherent technical and industrial advantages and can quickly enter the energy storage market. Therefore, in the context of intensified competition and slower growth rate in the new energy vehicle market, battery power enterprises have been shifting their resources to the energy storage sector, seeking a second growth curve.
Headline battery power enterprises such as Ningde Time and BYD have taken the lead in entering the energy storage sector and have become the “pioneers” in the global energy storage market. By 2025, the shipment volume of energy storage batteries by Ningde Time will exceed 160 GWh, with a year-on-year growth of 80%; the shipment volume of energy storage batteries by BYD will approach 50 GWh, with a year-on-year growth of 78%. Besides these leading enterprises, second-tier battery power companies such as China Innovation Power, Guoxuan Gaoke, Yiwu Lithium Energy, and Huitang Energy have also quickly followed suit and accelerated their layout in the energy storage sector. The revenue proportion of energy storage business of all these enterprises has been continuously increasing.
Currently, major Korean and Japanese battery companies such as LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, SK On, and Panasonic have also begun to fully focus on the energy storage sector, targeting the North American market and securing large orders. LG Energy Solution has fully shifted its focus to the energy storage business, with outstanding orders exceeding 120 GWh. The latest news indicates that its factory in the United States will produce lithium iron phosphate energy storage batteries for Tesla. Samsung SDI is hedging against the fluctuations in its battery production by focusing on energy storage. It has initiated the line-up transformation of its factory in Indiana, USA, converting three production lines to be dedicated to energy storage batteries, and plans to start mass production in the fourth quarter of 2026. SK On is concentrating on the establishment of energy storage production capacity in North America. The production line of lithium iron phosphate energy storage batteries in Georgia, USA, is scheduled to commence production in the second half of 2026. Panasonic has deeply integrated with Tesla’s energy storage ecosystem, providing support for its Powerwall/Megapack energy storage products.
In 2026, as the growth rate of global electric vehicle sales slows further, the battery power market will face greater pressure. More lithium battery enterprises will shift their focus to the energy storage sector. It can be predicted that the competition between Chinese and foreign lithium battery enterprises in the energy storage field will become even more intense.