Why LFP Grew to become The Dominant EV Battery Chemistry In 2025

• LFP was the quickest rising battery chemistry in 2025, with demand rising 48%, based on analysis agency RhoMotion.
• It has overtaken nickel-based packs to turn out to be the dominant battery chemistry on the planet.
• China spearheaded this progress, adopted by Europe and a few Asian international locations.

The rollout of low-cost lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries surpassed deployments of conventional nickel-based chemistries in electrical automobiles in 2025 for the very first time, EV Journal reported, citing knowledge from the analysis agency RhoMotion. That marks a big shift for the worldwide battery trade, and its yet one more signal of China’s continued dominance right here.

For years, automakers leaned closely on nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries, largely as a result of they benefited from a mature provide chain and better power density that delivered fascinating driving vary on EVs. (Most U.S.-market EVs use NMC batteries.)

However these benefits have come at a value. Nickel- and cobalt-heavy batteries are costly to mine, they’re environmentally intensive and stay tied to controversial provide chains that contain labor and human rights violationssignificantly within the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Consequently, battery makers have been accelerating their shift towards nickel-free chemistries similar to LFP.

Chinese language automakers and battery firms have been main that shift, because of LFP’s decrease prices, diminished dependence on troubled supplies and a narrowing energy-density hole with NMC batteries.

By final yr, LFP batteries accounted for greater than half of world EV battery deployments, RhoMotion stated. NMC batteries nonetheless retain an edge on power density, however automakers have discovered methods to offset that drawback. Cell-to-pack and cell-to-chassis designs enable extra cells to be squeezed into comparable areas. Optimized anode and cathode supplies are serving to shut that efficiency hole even additional.

And China is completely crushing it in terms of LFP adoption. Between January and November final yr, greater than 80% of EVs bought within the nation had been outfitted with LFP batteries. And that dominance can be spilling abroad.

Photograph by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

Europe and Asia (excluding China) accounted for roughly 75% of final yr’s international LFP progress, pushed largely by a surge of Chinese language EVs coming into abroad markets. In Europe, Chinese language automakers accounted for a document 12.8% of the EV market in November, greater than doubling their share from a yr earlier, Bloomberg reported, citing numbers from Dataforce. BYD, Leap motor and Chery all posted robust progress throughout the area in 2025. China’s Catl is by far the main firm within the LFP market, and final yr, about one-third of all EVs bought had CATL battery cells. You do the mathematics.

Chinese language battery giants are pushing aggressively into native LFP manufacturing in Europe, each to cut back their publicity to tariffs and likewise to remain near automakers. Each BYD and CATL are constructing battery factories in Hungary. CATL already operates a plant in Germany and has one other one deliberate in Spain in partnership with Stellantis.

North America was the one area to see LFP deployments decline in 2025. The U.S. has successfully blocked China-made batteries from coming into the nation by means of tariffs and strict sourcing guidelines underneath the Biden-era Inflation Discount Act, leaving solely a handful of LFP-equipped EVs on the U.S. market.

Photograph by: Patrick George

Tesla briefly supplied LFP batteries on the bottom Mannequin 3 within the U.S., however discontinued that trim in 2024 because of tariffs. Rivian and Ford nonetheless use LFP packs on base variations of the R1S, R1T and Mustang Mach-E. Nevertheless, LFP is anticipated to bear considerably of a resurgence within the U.S. because of extra inexpensive EVs like the brand new Chevrolet Bolt and Ford’s upcoming $30,000 electrical truck.

LFP continues to be poised to develop within the U.S., however the path will look totally different from what’s taking place in Europe and China. A lot of that momentum is anticipated to come back from home manufacturing of battery power storage techniques (BESS), somewhat than passenger EVs alone.

After the top of the $7,500 federal tax credit score, a number of battery makers within the U.S., together with LG Power Answer, Tesla and SK On, adjusted their battery manufacturing capability for the ESS market, which is rising a lot sooner than EVs.

Contact the creator: suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com