The number of electric vehicles (EVs) expected to equip lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in 2022 will reach new heights as automotive OEMs continue to adopt the technology, according to new data from Researcher and Research.
In March, the share of LFP batteries in the global EV market rose to 19.2%, the highest it has ever been. Researcher and Research expects the share of EVs using LFP batteries to continue to expand this year driven by sales from Tesla, BYD, General Motors, Chery, GreatWall, XPeng and more.
In 2021, EVs equipped with LFP batteries accounted for 14.3% of the global market, an increase of 5.2% from 2020. Researcher and Research updated its forecast for LFP battery adoption this year from 20.6% to 21.5%.
“The ability to significantly reduce the cost of EV battery is still the key to stimulate the growth of market demand in these years,” said Y.-C Hsu, co-founder and CEO of Researcher and Research. “Moreover, under the dual consideration of cost and safety, the incentive for automakers to choose LFP battery at present is even stronger.”
Winning the market
While still in the minority of use, LFP batteries are expected to win the low- to mid-priced EV market with sodium-ion batteries being the main competitor for LFP in low-priced EV models.
Solid-state batteries will remain focused on the high-priced EV models, while ternary batteries such as NMC/NCA will remain in the mid- to high-priced market.
China leads
Only Chinese battery manufacturers dominate the LFP battery market with Japanese and South Korean manufacturers focusing on the production of nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) and nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA) batteries.
Vendors in these countries are not interested in producing LFP batteries for EVs due to the profit margins being too low and the recycling value low as well, Researcher and Research said.
