The top producer of automotive-industry-utilized lithium-ion battery cells in 2014 was Japan — with around 2 gigawatt-hours of batteries produced in the country during the year — according to a new infographic from the US Department of Energy.
The overall production capacity leader for the year, though, was China — with more than 10.4 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of additional production capacity “commissioned or under construction.”
The US hovered in third for the year with regard to produced batteries (1 GWh of produced batteries, for a 19% market share) — behind Japan and South Korea (with 1.3 GWh of produced batteries). China followed in fourth with 0.8 GWh of batteries produced during the year. And the European Union in fifth, with 0.3 GWh of batteries produced.
Total global battery capacity production for 2014 was around 5.4 GWh.
While Japan, Korea, and China are likely to maintain significant market shares, once Tesla’s (and Panasonic’s) Gigafactory in Nevada reaches full production capacity (expected to occur before 2020), things will shift quite a bit. The Gigafactory will itself comprise a significant portion of overall global battery production once compelled.
LG Chem, based out of Korea, will be ramping up production during this time period as well though. And others elsewhere will likely be significantly increasing battery production.
Why does it seem like America is always behind 🙁