Battery Demand in Q1 2024 reached 230GWh across all end use markets, a y-o-y increase of 20%. EV Battery demand accounted for 72% of this, with Q1 sales reaching 3.1 million units. The stationary storage market saw the strongest y-o-y growth of close to 40%.

“Despite the market’s doom and gloom sentiment, battery demand marches on, setting a solid foundation for 2024.”

Iola Hughes, Head of Research at Rho Motion

At a regional level China grew 25% y-o-y, accounting for just under 50% of global battery demand this quarter. In the US & Canada, y-o-y growth was 20% despite a relatively weak start to the year for the stationary storage market. The weakest growth was seen in Europe, increasing 9% y-o-y, removal of BEV subsidies in Germany having had a clear impact on sales there.

Demand was down 25% compared to Q4 2023, a record quarter of over 300GWh demand. The slowdown is in line with expectations, with typical seasonality from key holidays such as Chinese New Year impacting demand.

In the stationary storage market over 30GWh of new capacity entered operation. Over 200 grid-scale projects entered operation in Q1 2024, the largest a 1.3GWh project in Saudi Arabia. In 2024, there are 22 projects over 1GWh planned to enter operation demonstrating the strong year ahead, in 2023 there were just four projects of the gigawatt-hour size that entered operation.

In the EV market in the first quarter of 2024 all regions experienced sales growth compared to the same period in 2023 even though Europe’s was considerably slower. China continued to claim first prize at 31% growth with the US and Canada at 13%, and EU and EFTA trailed behind at a mere 7%. The Rest of the World (RoW) grew by 21% as Chinese exports continue to boost sales in southeast Asia and Latin America.

In terms of battery technology for the EV market LFP continues to dominate the market in China, and NCM outside of China. LMFP and sodium ion batteries entered the mix in the final month of 2023, and there is now low, but consistent, sales of EVs with these batteries which Rho Motion anticipates will steadily grow for the rest of the year across manufacturing capacity of these technologies develops.

In the storage market LFP dominates, with Chinese cell manufacturers supplying projects across the globe. Five sodium ion battery projects are due to come online in China this year, with its entry to the market somewhat slowed by the current low lithium price.

For the full year 2024 battery demand across all end use markets is set to increase by 25-30% y-o-y compared to 2023, the first year to surpass the 1TWh battery demand mark.

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