CATL and BYD's share of the China power battery market returned to their respective normal levels in May, after a Covid disruption in April narrowed their gap significantly.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL, SHE: 300750) and BYD (SHE: 002594, HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) returned to their respective shares of the China power battery market in May, after a Covid disruption in April narrowed their gap significantly.
CATL's installed base of 8.51 GWh in China in May, with a 45.85 percent market share, remains in the top position, according to data released today by the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA).
The market share increased by 7.57 percentage points from 38.28 percent in April.
BYD's power battery installed base in May was 4.09 GWh, with a share of 22.01 percent, down 10.17 percentage points from 32.18 percent in April.
Notably, this change can be expected as CATL's customers -- major electric vehicle (EV) makers including Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and NIO -- all rebounded sharply in May from April's sales.
BYD, whose power cells are now used primarily in its passenger car business, sold 114,943 new energy vehicles (NEVs) in May, up 8.39 percent from 106,042 units in April.
In April, deliveries by major EV makers including Tesla and NIO plummeted because of the severe disruption to the car supply chain caused by Covid, but BYD's sales remained above 100,000 units.
This also reduced the gap between CATL and BYD's share of the power battery market to 6.1 percentage points in April, the lowest since CABIA data became available.
China's power battery installed base in May was 18.6 GWh, up 90.3 percent year-on-year and 39.9 percent from April, according to data released today by CABIA.
The installed base of ternary batteries was 8.3 GWh, accounting for 44.7 percent of the total installed base, up 59.0 percent year-on-year and up 90.3 percent from April. Lithium iron phosphate battery installed volume was 10.2 GWh, accounting for 55.1 percent of the total installed volume, up 126.5 percent year-on-year and 15.1 percent sequentially.
From January to May, the installed base of power batteries in China was 83.1 GWh, an increase of 100.8 percent year on year.
CALB installed 1.64 GWh in May, continuing to occupy third place with an 8.82 percent market share, up 2.03 percentage points from April.
Gotion High-Tech installed 0.91 GWh in May, continuing to occupy fourth place with a 4.92 percent market share, a decrease of 0.39 percentage points from April.
It is worth noting that CATL and CALB are currently in the midst of a legal dispute.
CATL is seeking more than RMB 510 million ($76.5 million) in damages from CALB in the patent lawsuit, a 176 percent increase from the previous RMB 185 million, as reported by Jiemian on May 23.
