Electric and hybrid vehicles: Value chain
How China came to build most of the world's batteries
How China came to build most of the world's batteries What this tab covers Who does what, from equipment makers to builders, owners, operators, traders and users, with the leading companies at each step.The battery is the costliest part of an electric car, and its supply chain is concentrated in China: CATL and BYD made over half of all EV batteries fitted in 2025, and China made over 80% of battery cells.
The chain
Battery materials and cells Vehicle makers (battery electric and plug-in) Hybrid makers Fuel-cell vehicles and systems Charging and energy supply Users| Stage | What happens | Leading companies |
|---|---|---|
| Battery materials and cells | Refine lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and iron phosphate into electrode materials and build cells. EV battery installations were 1,187 GWh in 2025 (SNE Research); the top ten makers fitted about 89.5%. | CATL (China) 39.2% BYD (China) 16.4% LG Energy Solution (South Korea) 9.2% CALB (China) 5.3% Gotion High-tech (China) 4.5%36 |
| Vehicle makers (battery electric and plug-in) | Design and assemble cars, buy or make battery packs, motors and inverters. Chinese carmakers supplied 60% of electric cars sold in 2025; European and North American makers about 15% each. | BYD (China), 4.6 million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2025, 2.26 million of them battery electric Tesla (United States), 1.64 million deliveries in 2025 Geely (China) SAIC (China)3471618 |
| Hybrid makers | Combine a petrol engine with a motor and small battery. Toyota and Lexus sold 4.43 million full hybrids in 2025 out of 10.54 million vehicles (Toyota figures as reported). | Toyota (Japan) Hyundai (South Korea) Honda (Japan)816 |
| Fuel-cell vehicles and systems | A small niche: 16,011 fuel-cell vehicles sold worldwide in 2025 in SNE Research's count, 91% of them in China and South Korea (calculated). | Hyundai (South Korea) Toyota (Japan) Honda (Japan) Cellcentric (Germany, truck fuel cell systems)910 |
| Charging and energy supply | Utilities, charge-point operators and hydrogen station operators sell the energy; under 5% of the electric car fleet can use chargers above 250 kW. | 3 |
| Users | Over 20 million electric cars were sold in 2025, about one in four new cars; the electric share was nearly 55% in China, 28% in Europe and just under 10% in the United States. | 34 |
No ranking of charge-point operators was found in reliable sources, so that stage names no firms. Battery shares are SNE Research data as reported by CnEVPost.
Sources
- Global EV Outlook 2026: Executive summary IEA, 2026
- Global EV Outlook 2026: Trends in electric cars IEA, 2026
- Global EV battery market share in 2025: full rankings (SNE Research data as reported) CnEVPost, 2026
- BYD overtakes Tesla as world's largest EV manufacturer (BYD 2025 sales figures) electrive, 2026
- Toyota global sales 2025 (Toyota's sales release as reported, with hybrid, PHEV, BEV and fuel-cell breakdown) Carscoops, 2026
- Global H2 vehicle sales rise by nearly 25% (SNE Research data as reported) electrive, 2026
- China, S Korea drove rebound in 2025 H2 vehicle sales (SNE Research and company data) Argus Media, 2026
- Three Chinese automakers enter global top 10 as 2025 sales rankings finalized CarNewsChina, 2026
- Tesla fourth quarter 2025 production, deliveries and deployments Tesla, 2026