Seven Chinese EV battery makers posted 75% higher net profits than the country's top 11 carmakers in H1
Major lithium battery producers recorded nearly double the profits of leading automakers despite a 14% drop in domestic electric vehicle sales.
China's seven leading electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturers reported combined net profits of over 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) during the first half of the year, an increase of 49%. This figure represented a net profit that was 75% higher than the combined total of China's eleven major EV makers, which saw their interim net profit shrink by 19% to 28.8 billion yuan. Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) contributed to this record among its group filings. The profitability gap widened significantly despite China's retail EV sales declining 14% year on year to approximately 4.7 million units in the same period. Industry analyst Cui Dongshu noted that price wars have severely squeezed operating margins for downstream automakers while concentrating profits at the supply chain level. Revenue from budget vehicle sales fell due to a reduction in government subsidies.
