SEOUL -- The global auto industry's shift to electric vehicles has spurred an expansion race among battery makers and caused a growing skills shortage.
Global sales of EVs, estimated at 2.5 million vehicles in 2020, is forecast to grow more than 12-fold to 31.1 million by 2030 and account for nearly a third of new vehicle sales, according to consulting firm Deloitte.
Here are major players' expansion plans in key EV markets of China, the United States and Europe.
CATL
As of end-June, the Chinese company has an annual battery production capacity of 65.45 gigawatt hours and has an additional 92.5 GWh of capacity under construction. The global industry leader by market share, its clients include Volkswagen Group, General Motors, BMW, and Daimler as well as Chinese automakers.
The company announced a plan in August to set up a production base in Shanghai, a move that will put it close to Tesla's Chinese production base.
LG Energy Solution
The South Korean leader expects its production capacity to reach 155 GWh by the end of this year and plans to raise that to 430 GWh by 2025 - which could power about 7.2 million EVs.
It plans to invest more than $4.5 billion in its U.S. battery production business through 2025. The plans include two new plants, jointly built with GM in Ohio and Tennessee, which would allow LGES to manufacture a total of 70 GWh of batteries in the U.S. by 2024.
LGES already has a factory in Michigan with an annual production capacity of 5 GWh.
In China, where the company makes cylindrical battery cells for Tesla, it has invested about 5.7 trillion won ($4.8 billion) and plans to invest another 1.5 trillion won.
It has invested about 6.8 trillion won in Poland since 2016 to secure an annual production capacity of 70 GWh and plans to make another 2.5 trillion won investment.
In July, LGES and Hyundai Motor Group said they would invest $1.1 billion to jointly set up an EV battery cell plant in Indonesia.