Global battery installations for electric vehicles (EVs) maintained strong growth in the first quarter, with China's CATL and BYD continuing to hold the top two positions. In the first quarter, global EV battery consumption totaled 133.0 GWh, up 38.6 percent from 95.9 GWh in the same period last year.

Among them, CATL installed 46.6 GWh of batteries in the first quarter, up 35.9 percent from 34.3 GWh in the same period last year. The Chinese power battery giant continued to rank No. 1 in the world with a 35.0 percent share, down from its 35.8 percent share a year ago and up from its 33.9 percent share in the January-February period.

CATL's battery is expected to maintain its No. 1 position as it is in high demand in passenger cars such as the Tesla Model 3, Model Y, SAIC Mulan, GAC Aion Y, and the Chinese commercial vehicle market.

BYD installed 21.5 GWh of power batteries in the first quarter, up 115.5 percent from 10.0 GWh in the same period last year. The company ranked second with a 16.2 percent share in the first quarter, up from 10.4 percent a year earlier and down from 18.2 percent in January-February.

BYD is gaining popularity in the Chinese domestic market with its price competitiveness through a vertically integrated supply chain, including self-supply of batteries and vehicle manufacturing. BYD is known to enter the South Korean market soon following Europe, drawing attention to the change in its growth trend.