In Europe, batteries with a capacity of 101 GWh are directly connected to the electricity grid, including utility-scale, commercial and household installations. Utility-scale installations are the fastest growing segment, with 19 GWh connected in 2025 alone. Another 810 GWh battery capacity is installed in the fleet of electric vehicles. EVs can support balancing the electricity grid when plugged in with the correct technology. For context, in any given moment the average load (demand) on Europe’s electricity grid is around 320 GW. A battery capacity of 320 GWh can supply 320 GW of power for one hour.
We estimate that Europe (EU including UK and Norway) has the capacity to manufacture approximately 280 GWh battery cells annually. The largest capacities are in Poland and Hungary. Poland is home to Europes oldest and largest battery manufacturing facility, the LGES facility in Wroclaw with an estimated 86 GWh capacity. Hungary is home to large plants from SK Innovation and Samsung SDI and has attracted significant investment from CATL and Eve Energy.
The EU is a growing net importer of batteries. In 2025, exports of €9 billion were offset by imports of €33 billion, leaving a net import balance of €24 billion. Most imports came from China, with smaller shares from the US and South Korea. Imports reached a record high in 2025. The largest shares of battery exports flow to the US, UK and China with smaller shares heading to Mexico, Turkey and Ukraine. Large shares of extra EU exports leave from Poland and Hungary.
Employment in the battery sector has grown substantially since 2018. Estimates suggest that 33,000 people were employed in the EU battery sector (including manufacturing and R&D, but not deployment) in 2023. This compares to 1,700 in 2017. The battery sector accounts for 3% of jobs recorded in the Prognos clean technology dataset. The largest number of employees in the sector are in Germany, Hungary and Poland. Meanwhile, Sweden and Finland also have notably high shares of employment in batteries when counted as a percentage of all jobs.
Battery patenting has expanded rapidly since 2000, with global patent families rising from around 225 to almost 4,000 by 2024. Europe increased its battery patenting activity over this period, but its growth has been far outpaced by China, which became the largest source of battery patent families after 2020. The United States remains close to Europe in absolute patenting, while Japan and South Korea are also major centres of battery innovation. Nickel-rich layered oxides account for the largest share of recent battery patenting, followed by solid-state batteries.
