50% of LG Chem’s batteries made in China

As of the end of this year, LG Chem is estimated to produce up to 40GWh worth of EV batteries from its Chinese operations, according to figures on Nov. 4. This means around 56% of the total EV battery production is made in China.

When LG Chem’s Polish facilities go into operation at the end of 2020, the proportion manufactured by Europe is expected to rise.

The production capacity of LG Chem’s Chinese factories are currently estimated at 7.2GWh excluding cylindrical-type batteries that are being manufactured from Factory 1 in Nanjing. When Factory 2 begins operations next month, the company’s EV battery production capacity will shoot up to 39.2GWh.

This year, LG Chem is aiming to produce up to 70GWh worth of EV batteries to shoot for 100GWh or more next year, which is also when the Polish plant will go into operations. At the same time, LG Chem will compete its additional investment into the Nanjing Factory 1.

In January this year, LG Chem said it would invest a total of 1.2 trillion won into the Nanjing plant for both cylindrical and pouch-types. Considering that the company has gained a capacity of up to 1.2GWh for every 100 billion won of investment, LG Chem is likely to push up its battery production capacity to 46.4GWh by next year.

There are also batteries manufactured by joint ventures. In June, LG Chem signed on with Geely Automobile to secure an additional 10GWh of EV batteries by 2021. When adding the cylindrical batteries supplied to Tesla, and others for smartphones, LG Chem is likely to produce 70GWh or more of batteries in China on an annual basis beginning in 2021.

China currently accounts for about half of the global EV demand, and has many suppliers capable of manufacturing key battery components.

And it’s not just LG, but South Korean firms such as SK Innovation and Samsung SDI are also making a beeline for the Chinese EV battery market, according to market watchers.

The Elec is South Korea’s No.1 tech news platform.