Ward’s Auto published a report on February 7th that announced the fall of the EV battery prices faster than calculated. The prices are even lower than the 2020 aim, which was $100 per kilowatt-hour.
In the latest Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, John McElroy said that
“Back in 2010 the Department of Energy set a cost goal of $125 per kilowatt hour, because that would make electric propulsion systems equal to the cost of an internal combustion engine. At the time, no one saw a clear path of how to get to that cost.But at CES, several EV experts told me the DOE’s number is turning out to be a very conservative goal. They assured me those costs will be under $100 before 2020, and not long after that they will go down to about $80 per kilowatt hour.”
For the electric vehicles to be commonly used, they have to be economically accessible to the greater public. One of the ways to reduce the price could be reducing the price of a battery. With more advances in technology, producing cheaper and more efficient batteries can be achievable in a short time. Secondly, more charging stations should be installed to make using an electric vehicle comfortable for longer rides. These two ways are the key points to increasing the usage of EVs.
Apart from the battery prices, the cell prices could also be reduced. The Green Car Reports had a confirmation from Mark Reuss, the General Motors product chief, that the new Chevy Bolt was installed cells that costed 145 dollars per kWh.
If this price was decreased to $100 the Chevy Bolt could cost $4,000 less. The difference between a decrease in the battery price and the cell price would be due to cooling mechanisms, the supporting structure, and battery management systems.
Finally, McElroy believes that if the battery prices fall lower than 100 dollars per kWh, then the share of EV in the market would increase from 1% to 10%. This drastic change could, of course, force governments and utilities to implement more charging stations around the US. At the end, the number of electric cars would increase 1,000,000 per year. For all these advances, the first thing the industry can do is decrease the battery prices.
[via cleantechnica]
