China leads global EV battery sector's expansion

Carmakers and battery companies announced 27 manufacturing projects globally for electric car batteries as well as related components and materials in the quarter of 2021 , and China topped the list of countries with seven projects.

The combined investment of the 27 projects totaled $26.7 billion, which was $5 billion more than all the projects in the whole of 2020, according to statistics Fitch Solutions released on Monday.

Fitch Solutions is a unit of global financial information services provider Fitch Group.

"We believe this reflects both the disruption in the earlier part of 2020, which put many investment decisions on hold, but also the increased activity in the EV segment, " said Fitch Solutions analysts in a statement.

Seven projects announced were in China, according to Fitch Solutions. They accounted for more than a quarter of the total recorded in the period.

The seven projects' combined investment stood at $11.19 billion, putting China on top of the list of countries by value as well.

The number of projects and the sizeable investment show China's growth momentum as the world's largest market for electric cars and plug-in hybrids since it overtook the United States in 2015.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers estimated that sales of such vehicles would reach at least 1.8 million this year, up from 1.37 million in 2020.

Of all the 27 projects announced in the first quarter, the biggest one by value was a $4.75 billion plant by China's Geely, which owns Swedish carmaker Volvo.

Five were announced by China's largest electric car battery maker CATL, who is a battery provider to such big names as Volkswagen and BMW.

Fitch Solutions said countries outside of Asia were playing catch-up and looking to develop their own supply chains.

North America increased its share of the total global investment to 18.5 percent in the first quarter this year from just 4.2 percent in 2020.

This is largely due to South Korean company LG Chem's announcement that it would invest $4.5 billion in two new plants in the United States to supply carmakers in the US and Europe.

Countries in Eastern and Central Europe saw the growth as well, with projects announced in Poland, Hungary and Russia.

"We believe energy producing nations such as Russia will have an advantage in attracting energy intensive manufacturing, particularly as factories become more automated and power becomes more of a pull factor," said Fitch Solutions analysts.