Ji-hye Yang, Gounee Yang

Global Economic News

IN the first quarter, global battery installation nearly doubled from a year ago. Among South Korea’s major three battery makers, SK On’s growth rate was the highest. LG Energy Solutions and Samsung SDI also recorded double-digit growth.

According to market research firm SNE Research, the total electric vehicle (EV) battery installation in 80 countries in the first quarter was 95.1 gigawatt hours (GWh), up 93.3% year on year. The global battery market has continued to grow since the third quarter of 2020.

The battery installation of SK On increased by 141.9% year on year to 2.6GWh, ranking fifth. The market share also increased from 5.3% to 6.6%.

LG Energy Solution (15.1GWh, second place) and Samsung SDI (3.6GWh, sixth place) also recorded double-digit growth, 39.1% and 26.2%, respectively, but slightly lower than Chinese companies. The market share of LG Energy Solution dropped from 22.1% to 15.9%, and Samsung SDI also decreased from 5.8% to 3.8%.

LG Energy Solution’s high growth was led by strong sales of Tesla Model Y (China model), Volkswagen ID.4 and Audi Q4 e-Tron. SK On’s growth was led by Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia Niro EV and EV6. Samsung SDI recorded high growth with increased sales of BMW iX and Fiat 500.