By Kim Hyun-bin

The global market shares of the main three domestic battery makers ― LG Energy Solution (LGES), SK On, and Samsung SDI ― are declining. All three companies continued their growth trend, but could not compete with Chinese firms' triple-digit growth taking up larger global market shares.

According to SNE Research, an energy market research firm, the global usage share of the three domestic battery firms from January to November of last year was 23.1 percent, down 7.4 percentage points from the same period last year. Their batteries are used in electric vehicles (EV) including hybrids and plug-in hybrids.

LGES' battery production capacity rose by 9.7 percent year-on-year to 54.8GWh, but its ranking dropped to third from second place behind China's CATL and BYD. SK On ranked fifth with 26.1GWh, up 72.0 percent, and Samsung SDI ranked 6th with 22.1GWh, up 74.9 percent year-on-year.

SK On's market share was 5.9 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from last year. Samsung SDI's market share remained unchanged at 5 percent.

Between January and November last year, the total battery consumption of EVs registered in countries around the world was 446 GWh, up 74.7 percent from the same period the year before. Since the third quarter of 2020, the market has been growing steadily.

All Chinese companies in the top 10 showed triple-digit growth, including CATL, the world's No. 1 battery maker. Meanwhile, most Japanese companies fell short of the market average, with Panasonic showing a mere 4.7 percent growth.

For last November alone, global electric vehicle battery usage was 57.2 GWh, up 1.7 times from the same month last year, while the Chinese market grew 1.9 times.

"The growth of battery makers is driven mainly by the car manufacturers' sales of EVs equipped with batteries from each company," an official from SNE Research said. "The main reason for the high growth of Chinese battery makers is that the proportion of batteries installed in Tesla models in China as well as European carmakers such as Volkswagen and Volvo EVs has increased."

In addition, Chinese battery makers are actively targeting major global markets such as the U.S. and Europe beyond domestic sales. The Chinese government is showing confidence in its EV industry and announced it would completely abolish its EV subsidy policy this year. Competition in the battery industry for technology development and collaboration with finished carmakers is expected to intensify further.