In many areas, the Asia-Pacific has been one of the most dynamic and promising regions in the world over the past three decades and has become an important driving force of the world economy.
Picture: online source
In the field of lithium-ion batteries, the Asia-Pacific countries, led by China, Korea and Japan, have shown a dynamic scene. They are considered to be the core driving force of the global new lithium-ion battery industry.
Whether in terms of market demand, production scale or technology development, there is no doubt that the lead in other regions, representing the world's "lithium", should let you wonder about the future of Asia Pacific’s lithium specifically.
Accelerating upward demand
According to the data from several global research institutions, it’s obvious that the current global market demand for lithium-ion batteries is growing faster (to be expected to be more than double-digits). This is mostly due to the rapid economic development and population growth on consumption levels in the Asia-Pacific region.
Picture: online source
According to a new report from Markets and Markets, the world's second largest market research firm, the global market demand for lithium-ion batteries will reach $44.2 billion by the end of 2020, with nearly 48% of the market rise coming from the Asia-Pacific region. This is expected to increase to $94.4 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of 16.4% during the period. The international market research institutions Technavio report also shows that the lithium-ion battery market size is likely to rise to $ 47.81 billion between 2020 and 2024. This means the compound annual growth rate will be more than 16%.
In the areas that Asia Pacific countries are investing heavily, such as electric vehicles, 3C consumer electronics, solar energy use, etc., the lithium battery industry stands out the most in both the global and the regional market. Among these industries, the demand for new energy vehicle power batteries come from China and India. They are seen as major growth drivers as data show that from 2020 to 2024, the compound annual growth rate of the global power battery market size will reach about 5% (of which 60% consists of the growth scale from the Asia-Pacific region).
In addition, due to increasing population and acceptance of solar energy in emerging countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Laos, the consumption of lithium for energy storage will increase in the coming years as well.
For this industry, BALLUFF, a global provider of sensor detection and innovative automation, has been a trusted partner for local companies - with more than 30 years of experience in Asia Pacific. With subsidiaries in Korea, Japan, India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Greater China (including Taiwan and Hong Kong), a global distribution center in Hong Kong and a manufacturing facility in Chengdu, China, BALLUFF is able to serve the lithium industry throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Lithium is focusing on electric vehicles
Due to the rise in environmental awareness and the pursuit of clean energy worldwide, governments are implementing strict emission standards to reduce carbon emissions. According to Markets and Markets, global electric vehicle sales will reach 10.79 million units by 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of 32.57% during the period.
Today, electric vehicles (EVs) are increasingly being used in most developed economies, especially with more rapid growth in emerging Asia-Pacific markets such as China, Japan and India. For example, according to a Kearney report, China's new energy vehicle fleet is expected to reach about 5 million units by the end of 2020, accounting for more than 71% of the global new energy vehicles.
The lithium-ion battery possesses a high energy density and is rechargeable. It powers the batteries of all-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and hybrid vehicles (EVs, PEVs and HEVs), the lithium-ion battery market is gaining significant momentum with the widespread adoption of EVs in the Asia-Pacific region due to its rechargeability, long service life and the advantage of fast charging.
On the other hand, from the production side of lithium batteries, a number of leading APAC battery manufacturers such as BYD, Panasonic, Samsung SDI, BAK Battery, Ningde Times (CATL), and SK Innovation have accounted for around 80% of the global production capacity.
According to research firm Wood Mackenzie, the Asia Pacific region has quadrupled its current production of lithium-ion batteries compared to 2019. It is to be expected to reach 1.3 TWh of lithium-ion battery capacity in 10 years' time, over a billion kWh of electricity by 2030, with around 119 manufacturing plants to be built and starting to operate.
With the economic and population boom in the Asia-Pacific region, this has led to the rapid rise of the entire lithium-ion consumer market, especially in the field of electric vehicles as a power battery application.
As a global expert in high-quality sensors, identification and networking solutions and software, BALLUFF has been supporting the manufacturing of new energy vehicles for many years. BALLUFF has been providing lithium-ion battery manufacturers with a complete range of automation and digital solutions: from target detection, linear position detection, industrial identification series to industrial networking, contributing to the rapid and high-quality development of this emerging market.
