- In the competition with dominant Chinese and Japanese makers, LG Chem and Samsung SDI ranked fourth and sixth.

In the first half of 2018, Panasonic took the lead back from CATL in electric vehicle (EV, PHEV, HEV) cell shipments in two months, but the figures were very close. Amid aggressive market penetration of Chinese and Japanese makers, Korean LG Chem’ and Samsung SDI ranked 4th and 6th, respectively. BYD and AESC took 3rd and 5th place, respectively.

CATL allowed Panasonic to reclaim No 1. place with a shipment difference of just 227MWh. This is attributable to the rapidly shrinking Chinese commercial electric vehicle market, slowing down CATL. The sales of commercial electric vehicles in China, which had been continuously growing since last June, plummeted in June, down 34.8% from a year earlier. (This is due to the Beijing's movement toward a more strict policy implementation, starting from June, regarding screening subsidy recipients and payment procedures. The ongoing investigations on fraudulent subsidies have also contributed to the decreasing sales.) CATL's battery shipments for commercial vehicles in June came in at 399MWh, up 53.1% from the previous year but down 67.4% from the previous month (1.2GWh).

The downturn of the Chinese commercial vehicle sales is expected to continue for the time being. It remains to be seen how long Panasonic could cling to the narrow lead.





The global battery shipments during the first half of the year totaled 29.9GWh, up 84.3% from the same period a year ago.

LG Chem and Samsung SDI posted shipments of 2.1 and 1.1GWh, and their growth rates were lower than the market average. On the contrary, CATL, BYD, AESC, Farasis, Guoxuan and EVE recorded significantly higher growth rates than the two Korean makers. Consequently, LG Chem dropped to 4th from 2nd and Samsung SDI fell to 6th from 5th, compared with the same period last year.

LG Chem and Samsung SDI ‘s shipment increases are largely driven by a sales increase of the electric vehicle models which they have supplied with batteries. LG Chem supplies batteries for Chevy Bolt, Hyundai Ioniq BEV, Smart Fortwo, and XC60, while Samsung SDI supplies for Volkswagen e-Golf and BMW 530e.





The total shipments during June came in at 6.1GWh, up 38.7% from a year ago. In the market dominated by Chinese (CATL, BYD, Farasis, AESC, and Lishen) and Japanese markers, LG Chem ranked 4th, dropping one place from the same month a year ago. Samsung SDI's shipments decreased to double digits, falling two places to 7th. The decreased sales of the models equipped with Samsung SDI’s batteries, except BMW 530e and Mini Countryman Cooper, are to blame.

Chinese battery makers have seen a slight slowdown in June due to a sharp decline in sales of commercial electric vehicles in China. However, they remain strong as China's electric car sales continue to grow. In fact, in June and the first half of the year, Chinese makers accounted for half of the top 10. Japanese makers also reassured their continuing market dominance. Along with Panasonic, AESC grew significantly thanks to the rapidly increasing demand for the third-generation Nissan Leaf (40 kWh).

The rapid growth of Chinese and Japanese makers are posing an uphill battle for the Korean battery makers. The two Korean makers need to build new momentum to survive in the competition.