EV battery companies explained: CATL, BYD, LG and the rest

Two Chinese companies — CATL and BYD — together produce more than half of the world's EV cells. The Korean trio (LG, SK On, Samsung) sits behind them, and Japan's Panasonic — Tesla's original partner — remains a smaller but technically influential player.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd was founded in 2011 and is now the world's largest battery maker. It supplies cells to almost every major automaker including Tesla (Shanghai), BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, VW Group and Ford. Its main chemistries are NMC, LFP and a hybrid called M3P (lithium manganese iron phosphate) that bridges the energy-density gap between LFP and NMC.

CATL operates more than a dozen factories in China and is building or operating plants in Germany (Erfurt), Hungary (Debrecen) and Spain (Zaragoza, joint venture with Stellantis). Its Shenxing LFP cell, launched in 2023, was the first mass-produced LFP to support 10→80% charging in under 15 minutes.

BYD is the only company that is both a top-three battery maker and a top-three EV maker. Its FinDreams Battery subsidiary makes the Blade cell — a long, thin LFP prismatic format that bonds directly into the vehicle floor. Blade is used in all BYD passenger EVs, in the Tesla Model Y built in Berlin, and increasingly in third-party customers including Ford and Toyota.

BYD is also the largest sodium-ion cell maker in the world by announced capacity, and its Seagull and Dolphin Mini use sodium-ion in some Chinese trims.

Spun out of LG Chem in 2020, LG Energy Solution is the largest non-Chinese battery maker and the most diversified. Plants run in Korea, China, Poland, the US (Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Arizona) and Indonesia. Customers include Tesla, GM, VW, Hyundai-Kia, Renault, Ford, Stellantis, Honda and Mercedes.

LGES specialises in high-nickel NMC chemistries and is producing 4680 cells for Tesla in parallel with Panasonic. The company also has a major LFP joint venture coming online in Korea and Arizona through 2026–2027.

Panasonic was Tesla's first cell partner and still produces 2170 and 4680 cells for the Model Y and Model 3 at the Nevada Gigafactory and the new Kansas plant. Panasonic also supplies Mazda, Subaru and Toyota.

SK On is the rising Korean player, with major plants in Georgia (jointly with Ford for the F-150 Lightning), Hungary and China. SK On's high-nickel NCM9 cells power the Hyundai-Kia E-GMP family (Ioniq 5, EV6, EV9).

Samsung SDI is the smallest of the Korean three but the most premium-focused — it supplies BMW (i4, i5, iX), Rivian, Stellantis (large premium SUVs) and is one of the most advanced solid-state pilots, with a 900 Wh/L pouch cell already shipping in B-sample form.

Different cell suppliers give measurably different charging curves and degradation profiles. The same car model with two different supplier choices in two different markets can behave noticeably differently.

Example: a Tesla Model 3 RWD built in Shanghai uses a CATL LFP cell and recommends 100% daily charging. A Tesla Model 3 Long Range built in Fremont uses a Panasonic NCA cell and recommends 80% daily. Same chassis, different battery, different rules.

Cell manufacturing is concentrated in three places: China (CATL, BYD, CALB, Gotion, Eve), Korea (LGES, SK On, Samsung SDI) and Japan (Panasonic). Europe is catching up: VW's PowerCo plants in Salzgitter, Valencia and Sagunto; Northvolt in Sweden (under restructuring at time of writing); ACC in France (Stellantis-Mercedes-Saft); Verkor in Dunkirk; CATL in Hungary and Germany; Samsung in Hungary; LGES in Poland.

The US has been racing to catch up since the Inflation Reduction Act: Ford-SK BlueOval City, GM-LGES Ultium Cells, Panasonic Kansas, Tesla 4680 in Austin. India is just getting started with Tata Agratas.

Battery recycling is now a serious industry, not a future plan. Redwood Materials in the US (founded by Tesla's former CTO JB Straubel) processes spent EV batteries plus consumer-electronics cells; it recovers more than 95% of the lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper. Northvolt and Hydrovolt run similar operations in Europe. CATL, BYD and SK On all operate closed-loop recycling in China.

Most retired EV packs are first repurposed for stationary storage (typically 5–10 more years of useful life at 70–80% capacity) before being broken down for materials.

Under the EU Battery Regulation that takes effect through 2026–2027, every new EV battery sold in the EU must have a digital battery passport: a publicly accessible record of cell origin, chemistry, carbon footprint, recycled content and state of health.

This will make it much easier to compare cars on long-term battery quality and is already prompting OEMs to publish information that was previously hidden behind NDAs. Expect the data to flow into resale value and insurance pricing within two to three years of the regulation taking effect.

The vast majority of EV cells in cars sold in the UK, France, Italy and Australia in 2026 come from just six suppliers: CATL, LG Energy Solution, SK On, Samsung SDI, BYD and Panasonic. Each has multiple factories on multiple continents, and the same car model can use different cells depending on the build plant.

The UK has one operating gigafactory (Envision AESC, Sunderland) supplying the Nissan Leaf and Qashqai e-Power, with the Tata-owned Agratas plant in Somerset due to open from 2026 for Jaguar Land Rover. France hosts ACC (Stellantis-TotalEnergies-Mercedes JV) in Douvrin, Verkor in Dunkirk and Envision AESC in Douai — together a credible domestic cell base. Italy's only large-scale plant is Stellantis-ACC in Termoli, currently delayed but still planned; Italian-market EVs predominantly ship with cells from Hungary, Poland and Germany. Australia has no domestic cell manufacturing and imports almost entirely from China (BYD, CATL) and Korea (LG, SK).

For a buyer in 2026 the practical implications are about warranty logistics and the EU Battery Regulation passport (in force February 2027). UK, French and Italian cars will have full chemistry, capacity and SoH traceability; Australian cars will get the same passports for imported European-built models, but Chinese-built models may take longer to standardise.

The most common misconception is that one brand has 'better' batteries than another. At a cell level, every major car maker now buys from the same six suppliers — the differentiation is in pack design, thermal management, BMS firmware and warranty terms, not in some secret cell chemistry. A 2026 Mercedes EQE and a 2026 Volkswagen ID.7 can have cells made on adjacent production lines.

A second is that 'replacement batteries' are exotic and scarce. By 2026 every major supplier offers module-level replacement parts through the carmaker's normal dealer parts channel, often with a refurbished-pack option at 50–70% of new pack cost.

A third is that battery supply will collapse if China–West relations sour. CATL, BYD and EVE now operate or are building European plants (Erfurt, Debrecen, Szeged); LGES, SK On and Samsung SDI have plants in Poland, Hungary and the US. The supply chain is more geographically distributed than the headlines suggest.