CATL and BYD: two Chinese suppliers now control over half the global EV battery market

宁德时代 / CATL captured 39.9% of the global EV battery market in H1 2026 — up from 38.2% a year earlier, even though the company was already the industry's undisputed leader. Installed battery volume for the half-year reached 242.7 GWh — up 25.3% year over year. Revenue for the same period was 276.9bn yuan, with net profit of 43.28bn yuan (about $5.95bn).

The only player above 30% share

CATL remains the only manufacturer in the world with a share above 30%. The second-largest player is 比亚迪 / BYD, with a 14.4% market share. Together the two Chinese giants control 54.3% of the global EV battery market — more than half of all batteries installed in electric vehicles worldwide, produced by two companies from a single country.

Why this is structural, not temporary

For any automaker outside China planning an EV, this translates into a simple practical fact: it's nearly impossible to build a price-competitive EV lineup without direct supply or a joint venture with one of these two suppliers. Alternative battery makers — LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, Panasonic — simply don't operate at a comparable price point at comparable volume. The gap isn't in quality; it's in manufacturing scale and, as a result, cost per kilowatt-hour.

What it means for buyers and partners

CATL and BYD's price advantage is built on a decade of investment in manufacturing capacity inside China — the same factories you can physically visit to see how the chain works, from raw materials (lithium, nickel, cobalt) to a finished battery cell. That's the only way to assess where exactly this price advantage is being built, rather than just reading about it in a report.

What you see on the ground

China's Auto & EV Industry Expedition is a visit to production sites where batteries and EVs are assembled, including an understanding of how vertical integration works from raw material extraction to final assembly.