Battery Makers May 2014

Batteries are a critical part of an electric car, representing up to 30% of the total cost of the vehicle, so let's see how battery makers are doing:

- Panasonic continues to grow, cementing the leadership and increasing 1% in share to 36%, all thanks to the success of the Model S and the good performance from Toyota;

- AESC, a joint venture between NEC and Nissan, provide batteries for the Nissan Leaf and most of Renault's EV's, thanks to the global success of the Nissan Leaf sales continue to grow but share continues to decline, with 25% in 2014, when in the end of last year it had 28%;

- LG has been the provider of GM and Ford, and with GM sales dwindling fast, LG continues to lose share, it's now at 11% when last year it had 18%;

 - Lithium Energy Japan (GS Yuasa / Mitsubishi), despite the success of the Mitsu Outlander PHEV, the use of small batteries in it (12 kWh), means that it's still a small player with 7% share, up 1% regarding 2013;

- BYD makes its own batteries and thanks to the success of the Qin, battery sales are going through the roof, with sales this year (137 MWh) already above last year (117) and share doubling from 3% last year to 6% in '14;