Stay ahead of the curve with data that informs your business. The BCI Statistics Program is your go-to source for automotive and industrial battery shipment volumes, and is the only North American source of battery shipment volumes based on data provided by battery manufacturers.
The beginning of 2026 yielded a slower start in the battery market compared to 2025. BCI data reports that Q1 transportation battery shipments decreased 4.6% comparatively. This trend was driven increasingly by the replacement market, down 5.2%, as well as the original equipment (OE) market, which decreased by 0.4%. Passenger car battery shipments saw a decrease of 3.7% in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025, while heavy-duty commercial batteries saw a larger decrease of 6.4%.
Despite the overall market decrease, shipments of AGM batteries experienced a record high for Q1 with over 7 million batteries sold. Year-over-year increases in quarterly battery shipments were seen alternative categories including floor scrubber (0.3%), general utility (3.9%), and special tractor (11.4%). Overall battery exports also increased by 3.2%, despite fluctuations in international trade policies.
The industrial battery market experienced a sharper drop off in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025. Lead-based motive power batteries saw a sales decrease of 11.7%, while sales of motive battery chargers remained relatively flat with a modest 0.2% decrease. Sales of lithium-based motive power batteries saw a sales decrease of 26.6%, continuing their trend of volatile sales patterns.
The stationary lead battery market experienced a strong start to the year, with a 12% increase in sales from Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025. March 2026 was the highest stationary sales on record, topping $124 million across the communications, control & switchgear, UPS, and energy storage systems categories in North America.
Each month, Battery Council International collects an exclusive data set from our members to benchmark the North American battery market. These BCI Statistics Reports provide insights into the battery shipment volumes for 10 application categories of automotive batteries, and 10 application categories of industrial batteries.
A subset of this data is provided to the press, analysts, and other interested parties of the general public. To be added to BCI’s monthly public distribution of member statistics, please review the BCI Shipping Statistics Program Subscription License Agreement and write media@batterycouncil.org with a request to be added to our mailing list.
BCI Statistics reports include the following information categories:
Preview the BCI Statistics program by viewing a recent sample of our public data report.
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