The Financial Times reported that China's new energy policies in recent years have attracted global attention. In the fiercely competitive lithium battery market, China is becoming the dominant player in the customized lithium battery market.
The report pointed out that not long ago, the Chinese government called on domestic battery companies to double the production capacity of electric vehicle batteries by 2020 and encouraged them to invest and build factories overseas. As automakers increase their investment in electric vehicles, customized lithium batteries will be a key technology for at least the next 10 years, creating a huge market. According to Goldman Sachs estimates, this market will be worth $40 billion by 2025 and will be dominated by China.
Data provided by Goldman Sachs show that in 2013, China surpassed South Korea to become a major supplier of lithium batteries for electronic devices in the world. A year later, as the Chinese electric vehicle market began to take off, this advantage further expanded. In 2016, China sold 507,000 pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, an increase of 50% over the previous year.
Regarding the rapid development of China's customized lithium battery scale, Duncan Goodwin, head of equity at fund management company Baring Global Resources, commented that "the Japanese invented it, the Koreans sought to expand production, and the Chinese took the lead because the market will be in China sooner or later." The reason why Chinese lithium batteries can catch up is mainly due to price factors.
The report analysis believes that for foreign battery manufacturers, what worries them more than not getting subsidies or encountering various obstacles is that in the past year, Chinese companies have made a series of moves in the lithium-ion supply chain, buying mining assets such as cobalt and lithium to reduce costs.
