China's EV battery makers turn to stationary energy storage industry

Leading Chinese companies in the EV battery market such as Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) and BYD are shifting towards the emerging stationary energy storage industry. CATL, leading the market since 2021, has over 40% of the market share for energy storage batteries, as stated in its annual report. Its key clients are the leading state owned power plants such as Huaneng and the leading energy storage system makers like Sungrow Power Supply.

For 2023, CATL recorded a significant 46 percent increase. Record deliveries of 69 GWh, an 8% increase in energy storage, outpaced its EV battery growth rate of 32.6%. Energy storage batteries were 17 percent of the company’s total battery capacity. Beginning in the third quarter, CATL realised 6% of its total battery sales volume, which was up from 12.5% in 2021. Moreover, CATL is expected to ship battery cells and packs to Tesla’s export-oriented Megapack energy storage plant in Shanghai that is planned to start production in the first quarter of 2025. This facility needs to manufacture 10,000 Megapacks per year, with the total energy storage capacity of 40GWh.

Another competitor of CATL in the energy storage business is BYD that supplied 22 GWh energy storage batteries in 2023 that increased by 57% year-on-year. This growth was even higher than the 15% growth reported by BYD as one of the leading electric car manufacturers in the EV battery deliveries with a total of 135 GWh in 2023, according to SNE Research.

Smaller players of the industry like EVE, REPT, and HITHIUM also recorded a considerable market share in the sales of energy storage batteries in the year 2023, capturing 11%, 8%, and 7% share respectively. The following are some of the firms that are playing a crucial role in determining the expansion and diversification of the energy storage sector which is a trend that is being witnessed in the energy industry and this is with the aim of achieving an increased uptake of renewable energy solutions and grid stability.

Expansion of CATL and BYD in the energy storage industry signifies China’s proactive approach towards gaining market control for batteries in both electric vehicles and stationary storage sectors across the world.