LG Chem becomes No. 1 EV battery supplier in Jan.-July period

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's leading chemical firm, became the largest supplier of electric vehicle (EV) batteries in the first seven months of this year, data showed Tuesday.

Based on the global usage of EV batteries, LG Chem's market share stood at 25.1 percent in the January-July period, compared with 10.6 percent a year earlier, according to market tracker SNE Research.

The data showed that 13.4 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of LG Chem's EV batteries were used in the January-July period, compared with 6.8 GWh a year earlier.

SNE Research attributed the hike to robust sales of the Tesla Model 3, the Renault Zoe EV and others that are all powered by LG Chem's EV batteries.

China's CATL came in second in the first seven months of this year with a 23.8 percent market share, sharply down from 26.6 percent a year earlier.

Meanwhile, two other South Korean EV battery makers -- Samsung SDI Co. and SK Innovation Co. -- came in fourth and sixth place with a 6.4 percent and 4.1 percent market share, respectively.

The strong performance of the Korean EV battery makers came despite a sharp decline in the global usage of EV batteries due to the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The combined global usage of EV batteries came to 53.3 GWh in the January-July period, down 16.8 percent from 64.1 GWh a year earlier.

entropy@yna.co.kr
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