Energy

Visualizing China’s Dominance in Battery Manufacturing (2022-2027P)

Published

2 months ago

January 19, 2023

Govind Bhutada

Graphics/Design:

Sam Parker

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battery manufacturing capacity by country infographic

Visualizing China’s Dominance in Battery Manufacturing

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With the world gearing up for the electric vehicle era, battery manufacturing has become a priority for many nations, including the United States.

However, having entered the race for batteries early, China is far and away in the lead.

Using the data and projections behind BloombergNEF’s lithium-ion supply chain rankings, this infographic visualizes battery manufacturing capacity by country in 2022 and 2027p, highlighting the extent of China’s battery dominance.

Battery Manufacturing Capacity by Country in 2022

In 2022, China had more battery production capacity than the rest of the world combined.

Rank	Country	2022 Battery Cell Manufacturing Capacity, GWh	% of Total
#1	🇨🇳 China	893	77%
#2	🇵🇱 Poland	73	6%
#3	🇺🇸 U.S.	70	6%
#4	🇭🇺 Hungary	38	3%
#5	🇩🇪 Germany	31	3%
#6	🇸🇪 Sweden	16	1%
#7	🇰🇷 South Korea	15	1%
#8	🇯🇵 Japan	12	1%
#9	🇫🇷 France	6	1%
#10	🇮🇳 India	3	0.2%
	🌍 Other	7	1%
	Total	1,163	100%

With nearly 900 gigawatt-hours of manufacturing capacity or 77% of the global total, China is home to six of the world’s 10 biggest battery makers. Behind China’s battery dominance is its vertical integration across the rest of the EV supply chain, from mining the metals to producing the EVs. It’s also the largest EV market, accounting for 52% of global sales in 2021.

Poland ranks second with less than one-tenth of China’s capacity. In addition, it hosts LG Energy Solution’s Wroclaw gigafactory, the largest of its kind in Europe and one of the largest in the world. Overall, European countries (including non-EU members) made up just 14% of global battery manufacturing capacity in 2022.

Although it lives in China’s shadow when it comes to batteries, the U.S. is also among the world’s lithium-ion powerhouses. As of 2022, it had eight major operational battery factories, concentrated in the Midwest and the South.

China’s Near-Monopoly Continues Through 2027

Global lithium-ion manufacturing capacity is projected to increase eightfold in the next five years. Here are the top 10 countries by projected battery production capacity in 2027:

Rank	Country	2027P Battery Cell Manufacturing Capacity, GWh	% of Total
#1	🇨🇳 China	6,197	69%
#2	🇺🇸 U.S.	908	10%
#3	🇩🇪 Germany	503	6%
#4	🇭🇺 Hungary	194	2%
#5	🇸🇪 Sweden	135	2%
#6	🇵🇱 Poland	112	1%
#7	🇨🇦 Canada	106	1%
#8	🇪🇸 Spain	98	1%
#9	🇫🇷 France	89	1%
#10	🇲🇽 Mexico	80	1%
	🌍 Other	523	6%
	Total	8,945	100%

China’s well-established advantage is set to continue through 2027, with 69% of the world’s battery manufacturing capacity.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is projected to increase its capacity by more than 10-fold in the next five years. EV tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act are likely to incentivize battery manufacturing by rewarding EVs made with domestic materials. Alongside Ford and General Motors, Asian companies including Toyota, SK Innovation, and LG Energy Solution have all announced investments in U.S. battery manufacturing in recent months.

Europe will host six of the projected top 10 countries for battery production in 2027. Europe’s current and future battery plants come from a mix of domestic and foreign firms, including Germany’s Volkswagen, China’s CATL, and South Korea’s SK Innovation.

Can Countries Cut Ties With China?

Regardless of the growth in North America and Europe, China’s dominance is unmatched.

Battery manufacturing is just one piece of the puzzle, albeit a major one. Most of the parts and metals that make up a battery—like battery-grade lithium, electrolytes, separators, cathodes, and anodes—are primarily made in China.

Therefore, combating China’s dominance will be expensive. According to Bloomberg, the U.S. and Europe will have to invest $87 billion and $102 billion, respectively, to meet domestic battery demand with fully local supply chains by 2030.

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Energy

Map: Oil and Gas Spills in the U.S. Since 2010

Oil and gas spills can be messy, but where are they most likely to occur? This graphic looks at oil and gas spills in the U.S. since 2010.

Creator Program

Published

1 week ago

March 13, 2023

Aran Ali

Mapped: Oil and Gas Spills in the U.S. Since 2010

The recent energy crisis has highlighted the integral role that hydrocarbons play in fueling the modern world, but these fossil fuels still come with their fair share of downsides.

Aside from the obvious climate impact they bring, one other downside in particular is spills, which can lead to ecological and economic damage. These can happen due to pipeline leaks, train derailments, or other industrial disasters.

This graphic from Preyash Shah provides a visual overview of every oil and gas spill in the contiguous U.S. since 2010. Data is tracked by the U.S. government’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

U.S. Oil and Gas Spills (2010‒2022)

The majority of spills that have occurred come mostly from crude oil, followed by petroleum products and gas. Note that this data covers the quantity of spills and not damages or volume.

Spills by Product Type	Portion of all U.S. Spills
Crude oil	51%
Petroleum products	32%
Diesel	14%
Gasoline	13%
Others	5%
Highly volatile liquids & flammable gas	16%
Liquefied petroleum gas / natural gas liquids	8%
Other highly volatile liquids	6%
Anhydrous ammonia	2%
Others	3%
Carbon dioxide	2%
Biofuel	1%

Data figures add to 102% due to rounding errors, bolded figures represent the sum of subcategories

Crude oil, which makes up just over half of documented spills, is also one of the most costly. Contaminations can persist for years after a spill, and its impact on local mammals and waterfowl is particularly harsh.

This has been the case with the Deepwater Horizon spill (also known as the “BP oil spill”), which experts say is still causing harm in the Gulf of Mexico.

Other products with lots of spills include petroleum products such as diesel or gasoline, as well as liquefied natural gas or other volatile liquids. Interestingly, liquefied carbon dioxide can also be transported in pipelines, commonly used for carbon capture storage, but requires high pressure to maintain its state.

When looking at the location of spills, it’s clear that the South Central states have experienced the highest number of disasters. In contrast, the West Coast has had substantially less activity. However, this makes much more sense when looking at the dominant oil producing states, where Texas and surrounding neighbors reign supreme.

Rank	State	Oil & Gas Spills (2010-2022)
1	Texas	1936
2	Oklahoma	407
3	Louisiana	297
4	California	253
5	Kansas	208
6	Illinois	181
7	Wyoming	155
8	New Jersey	128
9	New Mexico	114
10	North Dakota	98
11	Indiana	93
12	Minnesota	83
13	Ohio	82
14	Pennsylvania	71
15	Iowa	66
16	Missouri	65
17	Michigan	56
18	Colorado	55
19	Mississippi	53
20	Montana	46
21	Wisconsin	42
22	Alabama	36
23	Arkansas	33
24	Newbraska	31
25	Georgia	28
26	Virginia	27
27	North Carolina	24
28	Kentucky	21
29	South Carolina	19
30	Alaska	16
30	New York	16
32	Tennessee	15
33	South Dakota	14
33	Washington	14
35	Florida	13
36	Maryland	11
37	Utah	9
38	Idaho	8
38	Oregon	8
40	Hawaii	7
41	West Virginia	6
42	Massachesueuts	3
43	Conneticut	2
43	Maine	2
43	Nevada	2
43	Puerto Rico	2
47	Arizona	0
47	Delaware	0
47	New Hampshire	0
47	Vermont	0

Of the 4,901 spills during this period, Texas accounts for 1,936 or roughly 40% of all oil and gas spills. This is followed by Oklahoma, which has had 407 spills and is one of the largest net exporters of oil and gas in the country.

What Causes Spills?

Oil and gas spills actually have a surprisingly long history, with one of the earliest dating back to 1889, when a spill was reported on the coast between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Causes have consisted primarily of weather, natural disasters, equipment and technological malfunction, as well as human error.

However, they only became a widespread problem around the halfway mark of the 20th century, when petroleum extraction and production really began to take off. This era also saw the emergence of supertankers, which can transport half a million tons of oil but therefore make the risk of spills even costlier.

In fact, the biggest spill off U.S. waters after the Deepwater Horizon disaster is the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, when a tanker crashed into a reef and 11 million gallons of oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean.