South Korean battery giant LGES pursues LFP technology in bid to narrow gap with Chinese rivals
Chinese lithium-ion battery (LIB) giants face stiffening competition from international rivals.
On Tuesday, Jiemian reported that South Korea’s LGES, the world’s third-largest LIB maker, has poached the core team of struggling Chinese battery maker JEVE.
- LGES hopes to use the team's expertise to ramp up production of lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries – where the company lags far behind Chinese competitors.
Some context: Until recently, South Korean and Japanese companies like LGES – which specialize in high-performance nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) LIB batteries – dominated the global battery industry.
- But in recent years, Chinese giants like CATL and BYD have led the commercialization of low-cost, high-performance LFP batteries, which avoid expensive minerals like cobalt and nickel.
More context: These advances have enabled affordable, LFP-battery-based NEVs to break into China’s mass market, driving a near ten-fold increase in annual NEV sales from 2020 to 2024.
- In February, LFPs accounted for 81.5% of China’s NEV market, while NMCs made up just 18.5% – a reversal from the 65/35 NMC advantage in 2019.
LGES's top South Korean rivals, Samsung SDI and SK On, have also announced plans to mass produce LFPs.
Get smart: Big global automakers are increasingly turning to LFP batteries, and Chinese battery makers are stepping up to meet the demand.
- Without a major push to close the LFP gap, non-Chinese firms risk ceding even more ground in the global battery race.
Get smarter: Chinese battery giants aren't sitting idly by as foreign rivals play catch-up.
- Their rollout of next-generation LFP technology highlights just how hard it will be for others to challenge their technological and market dominance.