US catches up with China in Li-ion battery supply chain; Czechia remains high

China continues to dominate BloombergNEF’s (BNEF) ranking assessing countries’ Li-ion battery supply chains. The Czech Republic ranked 15th, the same as last year. This follows from BNEF’s published press release.

BNEF researchers said that China currently has around 80 % of global battery cell manufacturing capacity and is expected to more than double its production capacity again over the next 5 years.

However, as governments around the world begin to recognise the strategic importance of the battery industry, supply chains in other countries are starting to challenge China’s dominance.

“The United States has moved up the rankings and ranked second behind China for both 2021 and 2026. The US has the world’s second-largest electric vehicle market after China. Tesla and Asian battery cell manufacturers continue to make significant investments in the country, while Biden administration policies supporting the creation of a domestic battery supply chain and the growth of electric mobility will further strengthen its position,” BNEF said.

European countries are also moving significantly up BNEF’s ranking, which assesses a total of 41 criteria across five areas, particularly thanks to steady growth in electric vehicle sales. If European countries were assessed not individually but as a whole, Europe would dominate the ranking.

“Europe has set an ambitious target to meet all battery demand in the region from domestic sources and has earmarked billions of euros in state support to attract investment in the battery supply chain. We are already beginning to see the results of these efforts,” said Cecilia L’Ecluse, an energy storage analyst at BNEF.

An interesting feature of the ranking is that most countries rich in the raw materials needed for battery production generally rank lower due to a lack of domestic supply chains or limited battery demand. Nevertheless, some of these countries, such as Australia and Finland, are slowly moving up the ranking.