Coronavirus will have negative impact on global EV market

The coronavirus outbreak will have a major negative impact on the green energy sector, including battery energy storage and electric vehicles (EVs), says data and analytics company GlobalData. 

China has more lithium reserves and much greater lithium production than any other country and with their access to cheap labour this has led the country to dominate the EV market, with all but one of the top 10% of EVs coming from China

However, following the coronavirus outbreak, a number of battery production facilities and EV factories have had to close. According to GlobalData, this is going to have a lasting knock-on effect on the global EV market, causing project delays and a rise in battery prices. 

The limitations on labour is expected to lower the output of Chinese battery manufacturers by around 26GWh in 2020.

In the past few years, battery prices have fallen due to an increase in production to accommodate a booming EV market. However, the pandemic is expected to impact this with battery costs rising. 

Sneha Susan Elias, senior power analyst at GlobalData said: ‘China’s attempt to fight the coronavirus outbreak has led to delayed production across a number of battery production facilities located in key coronavirus hit provinces and is expected to lower the output of Chinese battery manufactures by around 26 GWh in 2020.

‘The industry’s over-dependence on China has been showcased recently with the coronavirus outbreak leading to disruptions in the supply of components. 

‘China itself is expected to take a beating on the production of around one million vehicles.’ 

In the UK, the coronavirus pandemic could result in 200,000 fewer cars being built in the UK this year, the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has warned.

With all car manufacturing plants now on shutdown as the country focuses efforts on overcoming the crisis, an initial assessment commissioned by SMMT of the potential impact of these shutdowns suggests a loss of around 200,000 units by the end of 2020, just under 1.1 million, and a fall of 18% on 2019.

The trade body has warned that the impact could be far more severe if the lockdown lasts longer than a few weeks and goes into the summer. They also called on the government to release funding to support them.

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