- CATL posted 32.54 GWh installations in August, signaling a strategic pivot to dominate domestic EV battery supply amid strong vehicle demand and rising export volumes.
- Power battery output reached 237 GWh in August and combined sales were 223.1 GWh; domestic installations hit 79 GWh with LFP at 67.6 GWh, 85.6% share.
- Top-two concentration intensified as CATL and BYD held 41.45% and 20.98% shares respectively, risking supply bottlenecks, margin pressure and scaling challenges for smaller rivals.
China’s power and energy storage battery output reached 237 GWh in August, up 69.8% year on year and 8.8% from July, according to monthly data released by the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance on Sept. 15.
Output for the first eight months reached 1,523.9 GWh, up 57% year on year.
Combined sales of power and energy storage batteries reached 223.1 GWh in August, up 65.9% year on year and 20.5% month on month.
Power battery sales totaled 146.8 GWh, accounting for 65.8% of the total, while energy storage battery sales reached 76.3 GWh.
From January through August, combined sales reached 1,387.7 GWh, up 50.7% year on year.
Exports remain an important source of incremental demand for China’s power battery industry.
China exported 42.4 GWh of power and energy storage batteries in August, up 87.5% year on year and 20.4% month on month, accounting for 19% of total sales during the month.
Power battery exports totaled 24.7 GWh, while energy storage battery exports reached 17.7 GWh.
Combined exports in the first eight months reached 259 GWh, up 49.6% year on year.
The trend is in line with the growth in exports of new-energy vehicles. According to the CPCA, Chinese automakers exported 518,000 new-energy passenger vehicles in August, up 154.7% year on year.
Meanwhile, domestic retail sales of new-energy passenger vehicles reached 1.005 million units in August, lifting the retail penetration rate to 65.2%, up 9.9 percentage points from a year earlier.
Strong demand for new-energy vehicles is also driving demand for power batteries.
Domestic power battery installations reached 79 GWh in August, up 26.3% year on year and 5.9% month on month.
By chemistry, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries continued to strengthen their lead, with installations reaching 67.6 GWh and accounting for 85.6% of the total. Ternary battery installations stood at 11 GWh.
In the first eight months, domestic power battery installations totaled 489.1 GWh, up 17% year on year.
LFP battery installations reached 402.7 GWh, compared with 85.6 GWh for ternary batteries.
By vehicle type, battery-electric vehicles remained the largest source of power battery demand, accounting for 84.3% of installations in August. Plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for the remaining 15.7%.
Market concentration continued to increase. A total of 31 battery manufacturers supplied batteries for vehicles in August, two fewer than a year earlier.
The top 10 suppliers accounted for 74.3 GWh of installations, or 94.1% of the total market.
CATL remained the clear market leader, with 32.54 GWh of power battery installations in August and a 41.45% market share.
BYD ranked second with 16.47 GWh and a 20.98% share, giving the two companies a combined market share of 62.43%.
CALB, Gotion High-Tech and EVE Energy followed, with power battery installations of 5.11 GWh, 4.67 GWh and 4.61 GWh, respectively.
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