Energy

The Lithium-Ion Battery Megafactories Are Coming [Chart]

Published

9 years ago

May 8, 2015

Jeff Desjardins

The Lithium-Ion Battery Megafactories Are Coming [Chart]

The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.

Everyone has heard about Tesla’s $5 Billion Gigafactory and its potential to double lithium-ion battery production capacity. However, it turns out that this merely a cog in the wheel of a bigger trend. Data from Simon Moores of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence shows that there are several other large-scale facilities coming online in the next five years that will potentially bring that number substantially higher.

Today’s production capacity is approximately 35 GWh worldwide. However, once Tesla’s Gigafactory and the other facilities being built by LG Chem, Foxconn, BYD, and Boston Power are complete, we will have a total capacity in 2020 of around 122 GWh. This exponential ramping up of production capabilities proves that companies are serious about scale and reducing costs.

For investors and speculators in the lithium, graphite, and cobalt sectors, there is no doubt that this could be a big boon. While these megafactories will have more negotiating power in their contracts for industrial metal sourcing, they will not be able to create this supply out of thin air.

These companies will need a diverse array of sources for industrial metals to reduce any supply risks. The sources also need to be socially responsible, ethical, and professionally managed. Tesla has already stated that they are unwilling to source from places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where over half of cobalt supply originates. This creates an interesting dynamic and playing field for the mining companies in this space, and it will be worth watching as battery production ramps up in the coming years.

Related Topics:battery graphite tesla gigafactory cobalt lithium-ion lithium li-ion megafactory production

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Energy

Ranked: Electric Vehicle Sales by Model in 2023

Today, electric vehicle sales make up 18% of global vehicle sales. Here are the leading models by sales as of August 2023.

Published

5 days ago

December 1, 2023

Marcus Lu

The Highest Electric Vehicle Sales, by Model

Ranked: Electric Vehicle Sales by Model in 2023

Electric vehicle (EV) sales are gaining momentum, reaching 18% of global vehicle sales in 2023.

As new competitors bring more affordable options and new performance features, the market continues to mature as customers increasingly look to electric options.

This graphic ranks the top-selling EVs worldwide as of August 2023, based on data from CleanTechnica.

The Best Selling EVs in 2023 (Through August)

Below, we show the world’s best selling fully electric vehicles from January to August 2023:

Model	Country	Vehicles Sold (Jan-Aug 2023)
Tesla Model Y	🇺🇸 U.S.	772,364
Tesla Model 3	🇺🇸 U.S.	364,403
BYD Atto 3 / Yuan Plus	🇨🇳 China	265,688
BYD Dolphin	🇨🇳 China	222,825
GAC Aion S	🇨🇳 China	160,693
Wuling HongGuang Mini EV	🇨🇳 China	153,399
GAC Aion Y	🇨🇳 China	136,619
VW ID.4	🇩🇪 Germany	120,154
BYD Seagull	🇨🇳 China	95,202

As we can see, Tesla‘s Model Y still holds a comfortable lead over the competition with 772,364 units sold. That’s more than double the sales of the #2 top selling vehicle, Tesla’s Model 3 (364,403)

But it’s hard to ignore the rising prevalence of Chinese EVs. The next five best selling EV vehicles are Chinese, including three from BYD. The automaker’s Atto 3 (or Yuan Plus, depending on market), is being sold in various countries including Germany, the UK, Japan, and India.

Meanwhile, Chinese automaker GAC Group also had two models of its Aion EV brand make the rankings, with the Aion S selling 160,693 units so far.

Regional market strength is also clear. For Volkswagen’s ID.4 model (120,154 units sold), Europe and China account for the majority of sales.

Given growing cost efficiencies and changing consumer behavior, global EV sales are projected to make up half of new car sales globally by 2035, according to forecasts from Goldman Sachs.