New energy car, battery sectors powered up for more growth

EV battery shipments grew nearly 100 times worldwide in eight years as new energy vehicles have been increasing, said news website Sina, citing an industry report on Thursday.

Last year, a total of 2 million new energy passenger vehicles were sold worldwide, and the global shipment of lithium-ion batteries reached 189 GWh.

The global EV battery shipment surged to 106 GWh in 2018 from 1.08 GWh in 2011, which accounted for more than 56.1 percent of the lithium-ion battery industry.

As countries released plans to phase out fuel-powered vehicles, the global new energy vehicle and the EV battery industries will enter into a growth period.

In China, the sales of new energy vehicles are required to make up about 25 percent of the total new car sales by 2025, according to a draft plan by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

European countries also developed schedules to ban fuel-powered vehicle sales, including Norway in 2025; Denmark, the Netherlands, and Ireland in 2030; and France, Spain, England and Portugal in 2040. Moreover, the UK also wants new energy passenger vehicles to account for 50 to 70 percent of all car sales by 2030.

In order to satisfy countries' requirements, carmakers including Volkswagen, BMW and Volvo said their new energy vehicle sales proportion would be enhanced to 25 percent, 30 percent and 50 percent of all car sales by 2025, respectively. Honda said its figure would be lifted to 65 percent by 2030.

The global EV battery industry will sustain high growth in the next five years when the global installed capacity will reach 850GWh, and the market value will hit 580 billion yuan in 2025, said Sina, citing Marklines, an auto information platform.

China, Japan and South Korea comprised 97 percent of the global EV battery capacity in 2018, with 90 percent of the global shipments from the three countries in past five years.

The top 10 EV battery companies worldwide were all dominated by Chinese, Japanese and South Korean companies in 2018, with six from China, two from Japan and two from South Korea.

Shipments from the top 10 companies represented 86.7 GWh of power last year, with China's power battery producer CATL taking the the crown with 24.9 GWh.

Battery technology development is different among countries and regions, with China and the EU focused on developing the lithium-ion battery, while Japan, South Korea and the US on the solid-state battery.

However, countries and regions generally plan to realize an energy density of 500Wh/kg by 2030.