🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

EVE Energy is expanding even as profits slide and factories sit idle

• The company is adding capacity while its recent results raise questions about the timing.
• In the first half of 2025, net profit fell 24.9% year over year even with a 30.06% rise in revenue 1.
• Pricing pressure plays a role. Average selling prices for its energy storage batteries dropped from 80 million yuan (US$11.7 million) per gigawatt-hour in 2022 to 40 million yuan (US$5.84 million) per gigawatt-hour in 2024 1.
• Factory use is also down. The power and energy storage battery capacity utilization rate, a measure of how much potential output is used, declined from 96.14% in 2021 to 69.2% by the end of 2024, a four-year low, as new plants keep coming 1.

This capacity race sets up a shakeout across the battery industry

• EVE’s spending fits a wider push among battery makers to get bigger fast.
• China’s electric vehicle battery manufacturing capacity is forecast to reach 4,800 gigawatt-hours by 2025, four times expected market demand 2.
• Many producers are building more lines to cut unit costs, betting that the lowest-cost giants will outlast price wars and consolidation 2.
• Pressure at home is also driving overseas expansion, with EVE planning projects abroad including in Malaysia 1.
• Industry consolidation may accelerate, pushing smaller or thinly funded battery makers worldwide out of business 2.