Demand for electric vehicles, energy storage systems and consumer electronics continues to drive U.S. lithium-ion battery imports to ever higher levels, especially products sourced from China.

Overall battery imports in the third quarter of 2022 hit 156,801 tonnes, jumping 88% from a year ago and 6% from this year's second quarter, according to data from Panjiva, the supply chain research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The ninth consecutive quarterly increase for lithium-ion battery imports comes amid ongoing concerns over global battery supply chain risks and a wave of foreign investments into new domestic factories, supported by manufacturing incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

China, home to major manufacturers including Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., known as CATL, BYD Company Ltd. and Gotion High-tech Co.Ltd., accounted for 76.3% of lithium-ion batteries shipped into the United States in the third quarter, according to Panjiva. CATL, the world's largest lithium-ion battery maker, shipped to several U.S. energy storage customers during the period, including Ameresco Inc. and affiliates of NextEra Energy Inc. and Fluence Energy Inc.

Japan accounted for 7.6% of U.S. battery imports in the quarter, followed by South Korea with 6.1%, Hungary with 3.4% and Germany with 1.7%.

Asian suppliers are also making major investments to expand U.S. lithium-ion battery production. South Korean companies LG Energy Solution Ltd., Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. and SK Innovation Co. Ltd. have partnered with automakers on multibillion-dollar projects across the U.S. Southeast and Midwest. Panasonic Holdings Corp., which already operates a large-scale cell factory in Nevada in partnership with Tesla Inc., broke ground in November on another battery factory in Kansas.

Market Intelligence expects U.S.-based lithium-ion battery cell production capacity to increase tenfold between 2021 and 2025 to 382 GWh.

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