Why Are Electric Cars So Expensive?

The Automobile Industry of today is revolutionizing itself a lot by looking for safer and cleaner sources of energy. This means that there would be norms of changed emissions and while there have been a lot many changes in the standard of emissions – it will continue to do so.

The primary alternative for traditional vehicles is electric cars which mainly run on EVs. The EV industry is still changing and shaping as there are a very small number of available options. A common problem that the industry faces at the moment is a higher cost of tech and also a much higher cost of vehicles that restricts itself from reaching a smaller number of people.

In this article, I will be discussing “Why are electric cars so expensive” and more. Keep reading till the end of the article to find out more information about the same!

Major Manufacturers Of Electric Vehicles

Asia is known to dominate the manufacturing of lithium cells the most, which itself accounts for more than 80% of the pre-existing capacity at the moment. A majority of which is in the country of China alone. As a whole, the Chinese company named the Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. LTD. (CATL) reportedly shipped the highest volumes in the year 2019, including that of batteries which are bound for storage and grid systems.

The race to supply the various automakers is a very tight race – which is where Panasonic was in the lead position the previous year. Panasonic and Tesla’s joint venture led to them being one of the biggest producers of batteries in the whole of the United States.

Are All Of the EV Batteries The Same?

Why electric cars are so expensive – well the type of battery is a major factor to that as well. The technology of Lithium-ion has dominated the sector by a lot ever since it was commercialized by Sony Corporation in the year 1991. Various improvements that were made to the weight, power, costs, and lifespan have aided the components to take a major leap from camcorders to buses, ferries, and SUVs.

While the fact remains true that lithium cells like all of the other batteries have the same basic type of components like an anode, cathode, and an electrolyte which helps in navigating the charge between them. There are a lot of differences in the used material which is essentially the key to the amount of energy that they can hold.

Keep reading till the end of the article to find out more information on ‘why are electric cars so expensive’!

Higher-Performance Electric Vehicles

For these types of vehicles, the various automakers want more energy-dense materials like nickel-lithium-cobalt-aluminum oxide or manganese-nickel-lithium-cobalt oxide. Even more forms of refinements are needed when seeking to improve the car’s range.

For instance, the distance that a car is going to be able to travel with a single charge (falls under the car range/capacity). There are also other car range factors like the car’s speed and fire resistance.

Is Associated Cost The Only Hardship?

There’s still a persistent issue when it comes to the driving range of cars. While it is true that even most Electric vehicles can travel up to 640 kilometers or even more before requiring a top-up — consumers who are considering more streamlined models remain anxious about how frequently they are going to need to recharge. Governments and Automakers have now become directly involved in the roll-out of the public infrastructure of recharging.

All of the countries China, Canada, and Germany are working towards building charging stations as a part of the strategic measures that have been adopted for combatting the economic slump that occurred during the CoronaVirus pandemic period.

There are about a million units that got fitted on the various highways, at shopping malls, and parking lots as well – but the distribution of which is uneven. More than a quarter in total of the United States are all in one state, which is California. There’s also the fact that not all of the chargers are compatible with every type of electric vehicle model.

The majority of the chargers are expected to take place at home and this automatically means even more added cost for the consumers. The average price of which is going to be $1000 for every system.

To Wrap It Up!

There have been a whole lot of innovations that are to be seen moving from various laboratories to the end of the production lines by the end of this decade. CATL, which I briefly mentioned before, is getting ready to produce a battery that is going to last for a total period of 16 years and two million kilometers.

As compared to how it is today – where a typical electric vehicle covers about 150,000 miles only or an estimated time of eight years. That alone sounds like a promising future for the world of Electric Vehicles.

Thank you for reading up till the end of this article. I hope you found the information regarding “Why are electric cars so expensive” to be useful.

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