LG Chem Leads Global EV Battery Market

LG Chem, Korea's top chemical company, led the global electric vehicle battery market in the first eight months of this year.

Market researcher SNE Research said on Monday that LG accounted for 24.6 percent of the global EV battery market during the January-August period, in which a total of 64.7 gigawatt-hours of batteries were supplied.

China's CATL ranked second (24 percent), followed by Japan's Panasonic (19.2 percent). Korea's Samsung SDI (6.3 percent) and SK Innovation (4.2 percent) ranked fourth and sixth.

The three Korean battery makers' combined market share more than doubled to 35.1 percent from 16.2 percent in the same period last year.

The brisk performance came despite the fact that global demand for EV batteries dropped 9.9 percent on-year due to a decline in EV sales amid the coronavirus epidemic.

Korean companies were able to avoid taking a hit because automakers for whose EVs they supply batteries fared relatively well.

LG's batteries are used in Tesla's Model 3, Renault's Zoe and Porsche's Taycan.