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On August 9th, the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance released the data on the installation volume of power batteries for July. The data shows that in July, the installed volume of power batteries in China was 41.6 GWh, a month-on-month decrease of 2.9%, and a year-on-year increase of 29%. From January to July, the cumulative installed volume of power batteries in China reached 244.9 GWh, with a year-on-year increase of 32.8%. Among them, the market share of ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries is approximately 3:7.

In the first seven months of this year, although the year-on-year increase in the installed volume of power batteries in China has significantly slowed down compared to the high-speed development period from 2021 to 2022, it still slightly increased compared to last year (31.6%).

The continuous year-on-year increase in the installed volume of power batteries in China this year is directly related to the hot sale of new energy vehicles. On August 8th, data from the Passenger Car Association showed that in July of this year, the retail sales of conventional fuel vehicles were 840,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 26%, and a month-on-month decrease of 7%. In July, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles were 878,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 36.9%, and a month-on-month increase of 2.8%. The penetration rate reached 51.1%, marking the first time that the monthly retail sales volume of domestic new energy passenger vehicles exceeded that of fuel passenger vehicles.

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Looking at the power battery companies, the market share in the first seven months of this year is increasingly concentrated in the leading company, CATL. CATL's installed volume reached 112.73 GWh, with a market share of 46.54%, an increase of 3.41 percentage points year-on-year.

After experiencing two years (2022-2023) of "de-CATLization" by car manufacturers, CATL's market share has shown an upward trend this year. Data released by Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of the Passenger Car Association, shows that CATL's market share has dropped from 51.9% in 2021 to 43.5% in 2023. It increased to 48.8% in the first quarter of this year, and slightly adjusted to 44.7% in the second quarter, but compared to the overall level of last year, it has also warmed up.

Of course, the rise and fall of CATL's market share is also closely related to BYD, the company with the second-largest installed volume. The two show a zero-sum relationship. The two years when CATL's market share declined were also the two years when BYD's car sales increased significantly year-on-year, and its self-produced and self-sold power battery installed volume also increased significantly, with its market share rising from 16.2% in 2021 to 26.9% in 2023.

In the first seven months of this year, while CATL's market share increased, BYD's power battery installed volume was 59.88 GWh, with a market share of 24.72%, a year-on-year decrease of nearly 5 percentage points. This is mainly because, since the beginning of this year, BYD's year-on-year sales growth has slowed down, especially the sales growth of pure electric vehicles with a larger installed volume of power batteries.

In fact, BYD's power battery installed volume still achieved a year-on-year increase of 5.5%, but CATL, which has a diversified business, achieved a value of 41.8%.

Overall, since the beginning of this year, although the competition in the power battery industry is still intensifying, the overall market pattern is basically stable. CATL and BYD, the top two in terms of installed volume, account for more than 70% of the market share, with a cliff-like leading advantage over other companies.

However, except for CATL, the market share of the leading power battery companies has declined, such as Cnano Technology, EVE Energy, and Guoxuan High-Tech. On the contrary, the market share of companies ranked outside the top six has increased, such as SVOLT Energy Technology, Sunwoda Electronic, and Ruipu Lanjun.This has also led to a decline in the concentration of the entire power battery market. From January to July, a total of 51 power battery enterprises in China's new energy vehicle market achieved vehicle assembly matching, an increase of 3 compared to last year. The top 3, top 5, and top 10 power battery enterprises' installed battery capacity were 189.0GWh, 208.3GWh, and 235.0GWh, respectively, accounting for 77.3%, 85%, and 96% of the total installed capacity.

Yu Qingjiao, Secretary-General of the Zhongguancun New Battery Technology Innovation Alliance, told the First Financial reporter that the decline in industry concentration is mainly due to some power battery enterprises ranked lower starting to assemble vehicles, such as the entry of whole vehicle players, including Geely Holding Group's Ji Dian New Energy and GAC Group's Yinpai Battery; in addition, some enterprises that had previously expanded their production capacity have also officially begun vehicle assembly.