China’s 98% grip meets a market growing 30% a year: 2 chemical stocks in the battery race

India's energy storage story is no longer limited to lithium-ion batteries.

Key points

• Niti Aayog estimates that India could need around 193, 000 tonnes of Cathode Active Material every year by 2030 to backing 100 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of annual battery manufacturing.
• Simultaneously, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Central Electrochemical Research Institute projected in May 2022 that demand for supercapacitors is growing at around 30% CAGR.
• They have an unusually high power density, making them essential for Electric Vehicles, Solar and Renewable Energy, Smart Grids, and Consumer Electronics.
• This monopoly creates major opportunities for firms to meet domestic demand and supports the China+1 shift.

India's energy storage story is no longer limited to lithium-ion batteries. As the country builds domestic battery manufacturing, demand is additionally emerging for the chemicals and materials that sit behind these technologies. Macro Catalyst: The 193, 000-Tonne Cathode Opportunity.

Niti Aayog estimates that India could need around 193, 000 tonnes of Cathode Active Material every year by 2030 to backing 100 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of annual battery manufacturing. It assumes that Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) could account for 60% of the demand for active cathode material. As per the International Energy Agency, at present, more than 98% of global LFP cathode material and LFP battery cells are produced in China.

This monopoly creates major opportunities for firms to meet domestic demand and supports the China+1 shift. In battery manufacturing, Cathode Active Material is the key chemical mixture applied to build the positive electrode (the cathode) of a battery cell.

Simultaneously, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Central Electrochemical Research Institute projected in May 2022 that demand for supercapacitors is growing at around 30% CAGR. Supercapacitors (additionally known as ultra-capacitors) are advanced energy storage devices that store electrical energy via electrochemical and electrostatic processes.

They have an unusually high power density, making them essential for Electric Vehicles, Solar and Renewable Energy, Smart Grids, and Consumer Electronics. Especially in electric vehicles, supercapacitors are applied alongside Lithium batteries.

In short, china's 98% grip meets a market growing 30% a year: 2 chemical is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.