South Korean battery giant LG Energy Solution has overtaken Chinese competitor BYD in the global EV battery usage rank during January-February, according to South Korean institute SNE Research.

Data released on 8 April show usage of LGES’ batteries on EVs reached 12.7 gigawatt-hours, an on-year increase of 24.8%. Its market share reached 13.7%, a bit lower than the same period last year. Overall, the company ranked second in the global EV battery deployment ranking, only behind CATL.

The Chinese battery leader saw the deployment of 35.5 GWh in the period, which is 45% higher than in the previous year. CATL’s market share increased to 38.4%, compared to a 33.6% share in January-February 2023.

Meanwhile, BYD’s ranking position fell to third, with usage of BYD batteries in EVs falling 3.1% year-on-year to 12.1 GWh. Its market share also declined to 13.1% from 17.1% in the same period last year. The drop was related to its EV sales decline during the Chinese New Year break, Kallanish notes.

The combined market share of the so-called K-trio companies – LGES, SK On and Samsung SDI – was 23.8%. That is 1.2 percentage points lower than in the same period last year.

Samsung SDI’s loaded volume increased 47.4% y-o-y to 5.2 GWh, achieving a market share of 5.6%. SK On’s deployment declined 1.7 percentage points to 4.5%, after a 7.3% y-o-y decrease to 4.2 GWh. 

EV deployment from Japanese firm Panasonic declined 11.8% y-o-y to 6.2 GWh, though it remained in the top-5 position. The reduction was associated with lower orders from its automaker client Tesla. 

In the first two months of the year, the entire world’s EV battery usage rose 27% y-o-y to 92.4 GWh, according to SNE Research.