Q1 2020 Covid-19 effect on EV Battery market

Q1 2020: The Covid-19 pandemic shook up the top 10 list of the EV Battery market and created new leaders: Korea one, China nil.

20.4 GWh battery cells for automotive application (BEV, HEV, PHEV, eBus) hit the road in Q1 2020, -14.3% down compared to Q1 2019.

The decline was caused by catastrophically low sales numbers of xEVs in China due to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. This decline hit hardest Chinese manufacturer with Chinese customers: CATL (-36%), BYD (-72%), Guoxuan (-40%).

However, in Q1 the rest of the world did not yet suffer from the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, Korean battery manufacturer with production locations outside of China and automotive customer with global customer base where able to profit: LG Chem increased its output by a staggering +120% and became the no.1 ahead of Panasonic (-5%) and CATL (-36%). SDI (+33%) improved two ranks and is now no. 4 ahead of AESC and BYD. SK Innovation (+125%) moved up 2 ranks.

However, China has already overcome Corona and is quickly recovering. Therefore Q2 2020 will look much different than Q1.