China’s installed LFP battery capacity soared 74% in April

SHANGHAI, May 14 (SMM) – China's installed capacity of cobalt-free lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries to power electric vehicles jumped 74.1% to 0.9GWh in April from a month ago, showed data from the China Automobile Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance (CAPBIIA).

That accounted for 25.8% of China’s total installed power batteries—3.6GWh—for the month, compared to a proportion of 23.5% in March.

Mo Ke, chief analyst of RealLi Research, expects the ratio to reach 40% this year, as such batteries are cheaper and given technology advancement.

Car buyers are likely to attach more importance to prices given the impact from the coronavirus, and EVs installed with LFP batteries are more cost-competitive, Mo noted in an interview with the media outlet The Paper.

BYD's state-of-the-art Blade Battery and CATL's CTP (cell to pack) design, meanwhile, will help improve energy density of LFP batteries, Mo added.

On a yearly basis, April’s installed LFP battery capacity was 39.2% lower.

The substantial month-on-month jump of installed LFP battery capacity in April was boosted by commercial vehicles. Chinese cities’ rush to electrify public transport is expected to be the major driver of demand for LFP batteries in the future.

CAPBIIA data also showed that the loading volume of ternary batteries increased 17.8% month on month but fell 30.4% year on year to 2.6GWh last month, taking up 73.2% of China’s total installed power batteries.