China’s Q1 Lithium Battery Shipments Show Upward Momentum Despite Market Adjustments
Despite a Q1 earnings pull-back among select battery manufacturers, overall lithium battery shipment volumes demonstrated strong resilience and upward growth.
In the first quarter, China’s total lithium battery shipments reached approximately 200 GWh, marking an 18% year-on-year (YoY) increase. This total includes:
- EV Power Batteries: 149 GWh (+19% YoY)
- Energy Storage Batteries: 40 GWh (+14% YoY)
Upstream raw material shipments expanded synchronously:
- Cathode Materials: 574,000 tons (+23% YoY)
- Anode Materials: 410,000 tons (+21% YoY)
- Separators: 3.9 billion square meters (+25% YoY)
- Electrolyte: 260,000 tons (+26% YoY)
A representative from Sunwoda noted: “From an operational standpoint, this Q1 performance represents one of the strongest opening quarters in our company’s history.”
Strong EV Market Fundamentals Drive Power Battery Demand
Full-year demand outlooks remain promising, driven by sustained growth in new energy vehicle (NEV) sales. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), Q1 NEV production and sales reached 2.115 million and 2.09 million units, growing 28.2% and 31.8% YoY, respectively. Domestic sales reached 1.783 million units (+33.3% YoY), while vehicle exports surged to 307,000 units (+23.8% YoY).
In terms of power battery deployment, total installed capacity reached approximately 84 GWh (+43% YoY):
- Passenger Vehicles: 75.3 GWh (+36% YoY)
- Special-Purpose Vehicles: 7.8 GWh (+156% YoY)
- Buses: 1.2 GWh (+69% YoY)
By chemistry, LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries accounted for 53.1 GWh (+39% YoY), while ternary lithium batteries reached 30.9 GWh (+50% YoY). By form factor, prismatic cell formats dominated with 80.8 GWh (+47% YoY), pouch cells reached 1.8 GWh (+3% YoY), and cylindrical formats logged 1.8 GWh (-21% YoY).
Energy Storage Bidding Surges as Grid Integration Demand Expands
The growth effect of the energy storage sector is increasingly visible. In Q1, domestic energy storage project tendering reached 25.8 GWh, a massive 160% year-on-year increase.
Major cell manufacturer EVE Energy projected that global energy storage demand will maintain annual growth rates between 30% and 50%, setting a corporate shipment target exceeding 50 GWh.
Electrochemical storage paired with renewable wind and solar generation continues to expand total addressable market capacity. While utility-scale and commercial energy storage potential could effectively double in scale, electric vehicles remain the primary volume driver for lithium cell consumption.
Lithium Carbonate Price Stabilization Improves Profitability Outlook
Following the aggressive price drops of the past year, raw lithium carbonate pricing has begun to bottom out. Industry executives emphasize that price stability—rather than absolute cost level—is the critical variable for battery manufacturers.
“For manufacturers, rapid price volatility is far more disruptive than the absolute price level,” explained a lithium battery executive. While technological upgrades continue to drive product value, extreme swings in lithium carbonate prices made short-term battery pricing passive.
With lithium carbonate prices stabilizing near cost-curve floors, battery prices are expected to follow a predictable upward margin path, restoring gross profit stability across manufacturing supply chains.
Representatives from Ganfeng Lithium added that compared to the volatility of prior periods, raw material prices are moving into a predictable range aligned with terminal market demand. As cost structures normalize, clean energy adopters stand to benefit from stable equipment pricing for solar batteries and integrated solar energy storage systems.
