This isn't the first time BYD has overtaken Panasonic in recent years.
Recently, the latest data of global power battery shipment comes out, and Chinese legion dominates the list with absolute advantage.
In the first two months of this year, global shipments of power batteries totaled 53.5GWh, up more than 100 percent from a year earlier, according to market Research firm SNE Research. Among them, Ningde Times' shipments and market share were 18.4GWh and 34.4% respectively, while LG's new energy battery shipments were 7.4GWh and the market share was about 13.8%. Byd surpassed Panasonic in the third place with 11.9% market share.
It is worth mentioning that, in the global battery shipment data issued by the above-mentioned institutions in February, although BYD is slightly inferior to Panasonic, but Ningde Times still occupies the first place by an absolute advantage, And China Innovation Aviation has surpassed Samsung SDI. There are six Chinese battery manufacturers in the top ten list. In addition, according to previous data, as of 2021, Ningde times has been the world's largest power battery enterprise for five consecutive years.
In this regard, some industry insiders said that the current downstream demand is strong, with the production capacity of Japanese and Korean battery enterprises, the industry competition will become increasingly fierce, then the industry seat will also appear certain changes, but Chinese battery enterprises will still play an important role in the industry. "In the future, Chinese power battery companies will maintain a leading market share in the domestic market and expand in the global landscape," Wang Zidong, deputy secretary general of China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, said in an interview.
China power battery industry strong rise
This isn't the first time BYD has overtaken Panasonic in recent years.
According to SNE Research's global power battery installation data, BYD overtook Panasonic to rank third with 172.4% growth in October 2021. At the same time, LG New Energy is far behind Ningde in terms of installed capacity and market share.
Industry insiders told times weekly reporters, Panasonic and other Japanese and Korean battery companies technology and products are not worse than Chinese enterprises, the reason why the market share has declined in recent years, the reasons behind is very complex. In addition to the regional policy reasons, its own layout, market demand changes are also important factors.
Take Panasonic as an example. In the early days, Panasonic mainly focused on the consumer battery field. After 2010, it shifted to the power battery field and continued to make layout in The European, American, Japanese and Chinese markets. Thanks to years of hard work in the battery field, Panasonic has led the world in market share for a long time.
The turning point came around 2015. This year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology formulated and released the list of enterprises (commonly known as the "white list" in the industry) of "Standard Conditions for Automotive Power Battery Industry". Panasonic, LG, Samsung and other overseas battery enterprises failed to enter this directory, and to some extent missed the dividend of the explosive growth of China's new energy vehicle market. Data show that in 2021, China's new-energy vehicle sales increased 1.6 times year on year, ranking first in the world for seven consecutive years.
Under the help of the above "white list", Ningde Times, BYD and other Chinese enterprises have been given more window period for development. Panasonic's market share was the world's largest from 2015 to 2016, according to Data from China Chuang Securities, but it was a distant second by the end of 2017.
Meanwhile, in 2018, panasonic, tesla's exclusive battery supplier, began to fray with tesla after years of honeymoon. In 2020, Panasonic was excluded from tesla's China project and replaced by Ningde Times and LG New Energy.
According to relevant agency data, Panasonic's installed capacity in 2019 was second only to Ningde Times, ranking the second in the industry. In the first quarter of 2020, LG New Energy, assisted by Tesla, officially surpassed Panasonic. At the end of 2020, Panasonic ranked third in the industry in terms of battery installations, behind Ningde Times and LG New Energy.
From the second half of 2020, China's new energy vehicle market starts a crazy prelude, the market demand for power battery increases sharply, and the popularity of lithium iron phosphate battery is also rising, gradually showing the situation of competing with terpolymer Lithium Battery.
According to the latest data released by The China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, in March this year, China's power battery sales volume was 24.5GWh, up 175.3% year on year. From January to March, China's power battery accumulatively loaded 51.3Gwh, up 120.7% year-on-year. Among them, the total loading capacity of ternary battery was 21.4GWh, accounting for 41.6% of the total loading capacity, up 54.4% year-on-year. The loading volume of Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery was 29.8GWh, accounting for 58.2% of the total loading volume, up 217.9% year-on-year.
But Japanese and Korean companies such as panasonic, LG new energy due to the development plan slightly conservative, its products are also more than single ternary Lithium Batteries of reaction is less than the outbreak of the demand for the Chinese market, can only see the market is gradually growing up power battery enterprises in China, create sia, beehive energy, such as lithium billion weft can enterprises under the background of the growing, And BYD also adapted to the market changes began to surpass Panasonic's journey.
Fight for the future discourse power of the industry
According to the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, IN the first two months of this year, LG New Energy ranked eighth and Panasonic was not among the top 15.
"Now Chinese power battery manufacturers have developed considerable capacity to keep pace with Japanese and Korean companies, which is why multinational automakers such as Tesla, Mercedes and Volkswagen dare to place orders with domestic battery manufacturers." To the above phenomenon, true lithium research institute founder Mo Ke told times weekly reporters. Another senior industry insider to times weekly reporter analysis said, "China's power battery manufacturing cost is relatively low, production capacity is also large, and the whole industry chain is very complete, a variety of factors add up to surpass Japan and South Korea is not surprising."
The whole industry chain of power battery can be divided into upstream metal and non-metal materials; Midstream power battery components, including anode materials, anode materials, diaphragm, electrolyte and structural parts; Downstream power battery manufacturers and supporting models. According to times Weekly, the current lithium industry in all aspects, Almost all of China's industry leading companies. For example, Ningde times, in the field of power battery, mainly deals with tianchi materials of electrolyte, Rongbai Technology and Beitrui respectively focus on positive and negative batteries, ganfeng Lithium, Tianqi lithium, Greenmei, Luoyang Molybdenum, Huayou Cobalt and other companies have massive mineral resources.
In the 150 years from 1870 to now, the battery industry has experienced five core technological revolutions, and the technological mainstream of the whole industry has also changed from lead-acid battery, nickel-chromium battery, alkaline battery, nickel-metal hydride battery to lithium ion battery, each stage will produce different industry pattern. Although the current Chinese power battery industry is stronger than Japan and South Korea and other countries, but this is only a stage.
"You have to have a slightly longer vision. What's 2025? What should our auto industry look like in 2035? A man who thinks too far will have trouble at hand." In this regard, Ning De era founder Zeng Yuqun also thought about. A few days ago, a senior industry to The Times weekly reporter said that the current power battery industry is still in the stage of rapid development, technology changes with each passing day, if not careful, it is likely to lag behind the industry. Although lithium-ion battery is the current mainstream, its technological evolution has almost reached the ceiling. In the context of the soaring price of upstream raw materials, the industry is also urgently calling for the emergence of more advanced power battery technology.
In the next generation of battery technology, solid-state batteries are currently widely promising. It is understood that a number of global automotive enterprises and battery manufacturers layout in the solid state battery field, including Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, LG New Energy, Panasonic, Ningde Times, BYD and other industry giants.
In addition, many countries also regard solid-state batteries as the future development direction of lithium batteries, and give certain support in policy planning, including Japan, the United States, Germany, China and so on. In December 2019, China released the New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035) (draft for public comment), which put forward the requirements to strengthen the research and development and industrialization process of solid state battery, raising the solid state battery to the national level for the first time. By 2030, liquid electrolytes will evolve into solid electrolytes in China.
