Emerging Battery Companies in Asia-Pacific, 2017

Fast Growing Startups Pose Stiff Challenge to Industry Incumbents

The secondary battery market in Asia-Pacific is experiencing strong growth due to significant fall in battery costs and increasing demand from automotive, utilities, industrial sectors, consumer electronics, and wearable segments. Asia-Pacific is the largest market globally for batteries and is also rapidly growing its battery production. The region is also a fast-growing hotbed for battery-related investments and for research and development of new and innovative battery technologies.

Research Scope

This study covers some of the emerging and exciting secondary battery manufacturing companies in Asia-Pacific, spanning South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australasia regions. These companies manufacture secondary batteries that are majorly lithium-based, flow-based, or lead-based. The companies profiled in this study include A123 Systems, CALB, CATL, Cellennium, E-one Moli, Enax, Energy Renaissance, Jenax, Lishen, Narada Power, Power Japan Plus, ProLogium, Redflow, Rongke Power, SK Innovation, and Tianneng Battery.

Research Highlights

Li-ion based batteries are the most dominant segment due to the fast-growing demand in the automotive industry and consumer segments. Consumer equipment demand is likely to witness a stable trend, with growth largely from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). In the industrial segment, lead acid battery technology is considered the most dependable, affordable, and proven for backup applications in UPS and inverters. The automotive segment will witness the price of the electric vehicles (EV) Li-ion battery to hit $100 per kWh by 2020. China, Japan, and South Korea will be key APAC countries in the development of secondary batteries. The push for green power as a result of national mandates undertaken by governments in Asia-Pacific to reduce carbon emissions has resulted in the development of new battery chemistries and the betterment of existing ones.

Advancements in energy storage, distributed generation, electric vehicles, and consumer electronics are driving the growth of the battery market. The addressable market for newer, cleaner battery chemistries is also expected to increase with stringent regulatory push and incentives towards green energy sources coupled with falling lithium-ion battery prices. As the world becomes ever more dependent on batteries to power modern life, challenges are aplenty and it becomes critical to adopt increasingly diverse approaches to develop batteries for different segments. For instance, fast-charging and high capacity batteries for electric vehicles; highly efficient batteries for grid-level storage for solar and wind farms; and batteries that tackle fire risks in the consumer segment are the current need of the hour.

Key Issues Addressed

• What is the current market scenario for secondary batteries?
• Which are the emerging companies?
• Which innovative space in battery technology do these emerging companies fall under?
• Which direction is the industry progressing in?
• What are the growth opportunities in this market?