March 14, 2024
Electric Two-Wheeler Battery Market: Global Trends and Competitive Dynamics
Against the backdrop of global energy transformation and increasing environmental awareness, electric two-wheeled vehicles, as a convenient and environmentally friendly way of travel, are gaining favor with more and more consumers. At the same time, the electric two-wheeled vehicle battery market is also booming.
Traditional lead-acid batteries are gradually being replaced by lithium batteries with higher battery energy density, longer life and more environmentally friendly. In 2024, the global electric two-wheeled vehicle market will continue to grow, with annual shipments reaching about 70 million vehicles, providing a broad market space for battery companies.
This article will deeply analyze the current situation, development trends, major players, and potential risks and challenges of the global electric two-wheeled vehicle battery market, with special attention to the layout and difficulties faced by companies such as BYD in this field, and look forward to the future development prospects of the market.
Table of Contents
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Overview of the global electric two-wheeled vehicle market
Market size and growth
In 2024, the global electric two-wheeled vehicle market shipments will be about 70 million vehicles, an increase of 3.9% from 67.4 million vehicles in 2023. Although the growth rate has slowed down, the overall market size is still huge. This growth is mainly due to the following factors:
- Environmental protection policy promotion: Governments of various countries have introduced policies to encourage the development of electric vehicles and restrict the use of fuel vehicles.
- Accelerated urbanization: The urban population has increased, and the demand for convenient and environmentally friendly travel methods has increased.
- Technological progress: The continuous advancement of lithium battery technology has enabled the performance of electric two-wheelers to continue to improve and the price to continue to fall.
Regional market differences
The global electric two-wheeler market is mainly concentrated in Asia, especially in China, India and other countries. These countries have a large population and serious traffic congestion, and the demand for electric two-wheelers is huge.
- Chinese market: China is the world’s largest electric two-wheeler market, with fierce market competition and many brands.
- Indian market: India’s electric two-wheeler market is in a rapid development stage and has huge market potential.
- European and American markets: The demand for electric two-wheelers in the European and American markets is relatively small, but with the improvement of environmental awareness, the market potential is gradually being released.
The rise of the leisure three-wheeler market
In the small power market, new leisure three-wheeled electric vehicles are leveraging a new round of market demand and are popular and concerned by urban consumers. Compared with two-wheeled electric vehicles, leisure tricycles have a stable structure and are not easy to overturn, so they are gradually loved by county markets and grassroots township consumers.
The emergence of leisure tricycles fills the market gap after the elimination of non-standard low-speed electric vehicles. At present, the batteries used in the market are mainly lead-acid, lithium batteries, and graphene (explore lead acid battery vs lithium ion). Compared with electric two-wheelers, this type of customer group has certain requirements for the battery life, so lithium batteries and graphene have become more popular choices.
Global electric two-wheeled vehicle battery market
Battery type and proportion
Electric two-wheeled vehicle batteries are mainly divided into two types: lead-acid batteries and lithium batteries.
Lead-acid batteries have long dominated the market, but due to their low energy density, short life, and serious pollution, they are gradually being replaced by lithium batteries. In 2024, the global lead-acid battery market size reached US$53.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%, but the output decreased by 5%.
Lithium-ion batteries have the advantages of high energy density, long life, light weight, and environmental protection, and are the development trend of electric two-wheeled vehicle batteries. In 2024, lithium-ion batteries will grow rapidly to 1.2 trillion yuan at a trillion-level scale, a year-on-year increase of 24%, becoming the core of the new energy track. It is expected that by 2030, the electric two-wheeled vehicle battery market will present a pattern of lithium, sodium (explore sodium-ion battery) and lead dancing together.
The rise of cylindrical batteries
In 2024, cylindrical batteries took the lead in breaking out thanks to the two-wheeled vehicle market (understanding cylindrical battery pack). The popularity of charging and swapping for two-wheeled vehicles has enabled a large number of cylindrical batteries to be installed on vehicles, and the cost-effectiveness of cylindrical batteries has made many downstream customers choose them.
Due to its own characteristics, the most suitable field for cylindrical batteries is two-wheeled vehicles. According to the battery capacity, the cylindrical battery below 50Ah has the greatest advantage. In 2024, the shipment of light power lithium batteries will be 43GWh, a year-on-year increase of 21.5%; it is expected to continue to grow in 2025, and the shipment volume may reach 50.9GWh, a year-on-year increase of about 18.4%.
Major battery manufacturers
The major players in the global electric two-wheeler battery market include:
Lead-acid battery manufacturers: Traditional lead-acid battery giants such as Tianneng Shares and Chaowei Power still occupy a certain market share, but are actively transforming and upgrading, and increasing investment in the research and development of lithium batteries.
Lithium battery manufacturers: Internationally renowned lithium battery manufacturers such as CATL, BYD, LG Chem, and Panasonic have entered the electric two-wheeler battery market, and have quickly seized market share with their technological advantages and brand influence.
In addition, manufacturers focusing on the field of electric two-wheeler batteries such as Xingheng Power, Farasis Technology, Greenway Battery, and CBAK New Energy also occupy a place in the market.
The rise of the battery swap model
With the popularity of electric two-wheelers, the battery swap model has gradually emerged. The battery swap model can solve problems such as long charging time and insufficient charging piles, and improve the efficiency of electric two-wheelers. The rise of the battery swap model has also brought new development opportunities for battery companies.
As a representative battery swap solution provider in the industry, TYCORUN is actively deploying intelligent battery swap systems in the field of electric two-wheelers. Its launched battery swap cabinet system has multiple advantages such as high compatibility, rapid identification, and safety protection. With high-performance lithium batteries, it can achieve 7×24 hours of uninterrupted service.
TYCORUN’s battery swap solution has been widely used in urban commuting, distribution, terminal logistics and other scenarios, helping users to achieve an efficient energy replenishment experience of “swap and go”, significantly reducing operation and maintenance costs, and helping partners improve operational efficiency.
With its continued expansion in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, TYCORUN is leading the intelligent transformation of energy replenishment methods for electric two-wheelers.
Challenges and risks of lithium battery replacing lead-acid
Although lithium battery replacing lead-acid is the general trend, its development also faces some challenges and risks:
- Safety issues
The safety of lithium batteries is the focus of consumer attention. In recent years, safety accidents such as the explosion of lithium batteries in electric two-wheeled vehicles have occurred frequently, which has brought safety hazards to consumers and a crisis of trust to the entire industry.
- Cost issues
The cost of lithium batteries is relatively high, which is an obstacle for price-sensitive consumers. Although the price of lithium batteries is constantly decreasing, there is still a certain gap compared with lead-acid batteries.
- Market competition
The electric two-wheeled vehicle battery market is highly competitive. In addition to traditional lead-acid battery manufacturers, there are also strong lithium battery manufacturers such as CATL and BYD, as well as some manufacturers focusing on the field of electric two-wheeled vehicle batteries.
- Fluctuation of raw material costs
The raw material costs of lithium batteries fluctuate sharply, especially the prices of key raw materials such as lithium carbonate, which are greatly affected by supply and demand, geopolitical factors and other factors, bringing challenges to the cost control of battery companies.
- Warning from the failure case of Ampacetech
As a wholly-owned subsidiary of New Energy Technology Group (ATL), Ampacetech has a strong technical background and resource support, but ultimately failed to gain a foothold in the electric two-wheeled vehicle battery market and withdrew from the market.
The failure case of Ampacetech shows that entering the electric two-wheeled vehicle battery market is not easy, and requires accurate market positioning, reasonable product pricing, effective brand promotion and flexible market competition strategies.
Dilemmas and challenges faced by BYD
As a leading enterprise in the field of batteries and new energy vehicles, BYD faces the following difficulties and challenges in entering the electric two-wheeled vehicle battery market:
- Safety trust crisis
Although BYD has advanced technologies such as blade batteries and claims to have significant advantages in safety, the entire lithium battery industry is facing a safety trust crisis, and BYD cannot remain immune. Consumers generally have concerns about the safety of lithium batteries, and BYD needs to invest a lot of resources and energy to prove the safety of its batteries in various complex usage scenarios.
- Fierce market competition
The electric two-wheeled vehicle battery market is highly competitive. BYD not only has to face competition from traditional lead-acid battery giants such as Tianneng Shares and Chaowei Power, but also faces challenges from lithium battery manufacturers such as CATL and Xingheng Power.
- Cost control pressure
BYD needs to control production costs in order to gain a competitive advantage in a market with fierce price competition. However, the production cost of lithium batteries is relatively high, and the cost of raw materials fluctuates sharply, which puts pressure on BYD’s cost control.
Outlook for future development trends
- Technological innovation
Battery companies will continue to increase investment in research and development to improve the energy density, safety, cycle life and other performance of batteries. New battery technologies such as solid-state batteries and sodium-ion batteries are expected to be used in the field of electric two-wheeled vehicles, pushing the industry to a higher technical level.
- Standard unification
With the rapid development of the electric two-wheeled vehicle industry, promoting battery standardization has become an industry consensus. Unified battery specifications are not only conducive to the interchange and sharing between different brands, but also effectively reduce user usage costs, improve operational efficiency, and bring greater synergy benefits to the industry.
- Intelligence
The intelligence level of batteries will continue to improve. With the help of advanced technologies such as battery management systems (BMS), future batteries will have stronger data collection and status monitoring capabilities, and realize real-time management of multiple dimensions such as power, temperature, and health status, thereby significantly improving the safety and service life of batteries.
- Popularization of battery swapping mode
The battery swapping mode is expected to become an important development direction of the electric two-wheeled vehicle market. Compared with traditional charging methods, battery swapping can effectively solve the pain points such as long charging time and limited layout of charging piles, greatly improving user convenience and vehicle operation efficiency. As the layout of battery swap stations continues to improve, this model will provide a more efficient energy supply solution for urban travel and distribution industries.
Conclusion
The electric two-wheeled vehicle battery market is changing rapidly, and the rise of lithium batteries is inevitable. Although BYD has advantages in entering the market, safety, cost and competition are all challenges. Only technological innovation, ecological synergy and global vision can break through and win. The government and the industry should provide more standardized guidance to build a healthy future for the industry.
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Willow
Willow is a materials engineer with a Master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering, specializing in lithium-ion battery materials and energy storage technologies.
Her work focuses on EV battery swapping solutions, battery innovation, and new energy industry trends, aiming to translate research insights into practical applications for sustainable transportation.
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