South Korea’s major electric vehicle battery makers strengthened their market control in 2019 by supplying products to foreign automakers, industry data showed Monday.

Three domestic electric vehicle battery giants -- LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SK Innovation -- increased their combined market share to 15.8 percent from 11.8 percent a year earlier, according to data from market tracker SNE Research.

LG Chem moved up to third place with market share of 10.5 percent, knocking down Chinese competitor BYD to fourth. The growth was propelled by a sales surge of Audi’s first electric vehicle E-Tron, Hyundai’s Kona EV and Jaguar’s I-Pace.

Samsung SDI collected 3.6 percent of the global electric vehicle battery market, with the global usage of its batteries surging 20.9 percent on-year to 4.2 gigawatt-hours. The growth was driven by strong sales of Volkswagen’s e-Golf and BMW’s i3.

SK Innovation joined the top 10 list for the first time, eking out for 1.7 percent market share and witnessing 132.4 percent growth in global usage of its batteries.

The growth of the three battery companies is likely to continue, as the European Union has pledged to tighten environmental regulations further, likely raising demand for eco-friendly vehicles.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)