China has recorded one of the fastest growth in its manufacturing industry. batteries for electric vehicles in recent years. Between January and September 2025, the total production reached 1,122 GWhwhich represents an increase of 44% compared to the same period in 2024, according to data from the Chinese Passenger Car Association (CPCA). collected by CLS. In September alone, 151 GWh were manufactured, 50% more than in the same month of the previous year.
Why it is important. We have been seeing this exponential growth for years and it does not take us by surprise, since it is an industrial strategy that China has been running for years in multiple sectors. Flood the product market with dozens of manufacturers competing simultaneously, gain global share based on volume and price, and gradually expel foreign competitors. The goal: dominate the entire electric mobility value chain before Europe, South Korea, Japan or the United States can consolidate their own industrial alternatives.
More figures. The sector remains robust thanks to increasing sales of electrified vehicles within China and growing international demand. In September, 50% of total production was installed directly on vehiclessix percentage points more than at the beginning of the year. Of that volume, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries They represented 52%, their highest level of the year, while the ternary type remained at 44%.
An increasingly atomized market. Although CATL maintains its leadership with 41.7% of the market in the third quarter and BYD occupies second position with 21.4%, both have given up quota: 3.6 and 3.4 percentage points respectively compared to 2024. Who is gaining ground? Manufacturers such as EVE Energy, CALB, Sunwoda, REPT, SVOLT, Gotion High-Tech (backed by Volkswagen) and Jidian New Energy. The list does not stop growing, and it is a characteristic that reflects China’s strategy: multiply manufacturers, increase installed capacity and compete by volume until margins are compressed for everyone.
Between the lines. Although this energy ecosystem is booming, it can also be a ticking time bomb due to overcapacity. And when you produce more than the market can sustainably absorb, prices plummet, margins disappear and a war of attrition begins. China has already experienced it in sectors such as solar or steel. In the short term, this allows you to gain global share based on price. In the medium term, many of these manufacturers will end up disappearing or merging. This is a calculated sacrifice that China has been making for years in multiple sectors: losing profitability today to control the market tomorrow.
Technological change as a commercial weapon. The replacement of ternary batteries with LFP also works in China’s favor. LFPs are cheaper, safer and less reliant on critical materials such as nickel or cobalt, whose supply chains are more fragmented. Only 7% of models In the third quarter of 2025, they installed batteries with a density greater than 160 Wh/kg, compared to 11% the previous year. The most common range is between 125 and 160 Wh/kg, sufficient for most applications. The shift to LFP, where China dominates, reinforces its competitive advantage over Korea and Japan, more specialized in ternary chemistry.
The context of the electric vehicle. Production of new energy vehicles in China reached 9.59 million units in the first nine months of the year, 29% more than in 2024. Of them, 5.8 million were pure electric vehicles (+44%), 3.28 million plug-in hybrids (+10%) and 460,000 electric commercial vehicles. As it could not be otherwise, this growth fuels the demand for batteries, and China continues to be the main world market, both in electromobility and export.
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