(Yicai) May 7 -- China’s BYD rejoined compatriot Contemporary Amperex Technology as one of the world’s two leading suppliers of batteries for electric vehicles in the first quarter.

BYD regained second place from South Korea's LG New Energy in the three months ended March 31, figures published by SNE Research showed today.

Use of BYD’s batteries in EVs jumped 12 percent to 22.7 gigawatt-hours, giving it a 14.3 percent market share, compared with LG's 8 percent gain to 21.7 GWh and a market share of 13.6 percent.

LG had surpassed BYD in February after the lunar new year holiday led to a drop in the Shenzhen-based carmaker’s EV sales. But they surged a month later, according to SNE. BYD also has been working to start full production at its plant in Thailand to help its rapid overseas expansion.

CATL reinforced its top position in the global EV battery market, which the Ningde-based company has spearheaded for seven straight years. Its first-quarter market share climbed to 38 percent from 35 percent after the use of its batteries surged 32 percent to 60.1 GWh.

Japan's Panasonic, a major supplier to Tesla, ranked fourth with a battery loading volume of 9.3 GWh, followed by South Korea's Samsung SDI with 8.4 GWh and SK On with 7.3 GWh, the report said. China's CALB, Eve Energy, Gotion High-Tech, and Svolt completed the top 10.

EV battery use worldwide jumped 22 percent to 158.8 GWh in the period.

Editor: Martin Kadiev