Current Electric Cars

[BIAD]

It's not as simple as they make out in futuristic movies.

Rising Cost of Raw Materials for Battery Production Could Curtail EV Sales.
Expensive batteries mean expensive cars.

'Most automakers are undertaking ambitious plans to add more electric cars to their lineups in order to keep up
with consumer trends and future-proof their businesses, but financial analysts at HSBC are skeptical.
The firm believes high prices for lithium and cobalt—two metals used in current electric-car batteries—could hinder
future sales, according to Bloomberg.

"High lithium and cobalt prices--but also limited supply and lower demand for pure EVs--now favor more plug-in hybrids
in the short to medium term versus our previous expectation." HSBC analysts Alexandre Falcao and Augusto Ensiki said
in a report.

They predicted that by 2025, global market share for electric cars will reach 9.4 percent, compared to a previous estimate
of 10.5 percent. But the analysts increased their predicted plug-in hybrid market share rose from 2.4 percent to 5.5 percent.

Lithium supplies will remain "reasonably tight" due to low availability and increased demand for batteries, the analysts said.
However, they noted that electric cars will likely still see a sales boost around 2020, due to lower battery prices and an influx
of new models. But the analysts believe that the costs for battery materials will cap growth.

HSBC isn't the first organization to point to materials costs as a potential obstacle for electric cars.
Earlier this year, Bloomberg predicted that cobalt supplies would not be able to keep up with automakers' demand.

The metal is already proving difficult to source. Most of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
which has a poor human rights record. Panasonic has come under scrutiny for accidentally supplying batteries to Tesla
containing Cuban cobalt, violating the United States sanctions against Cuba.

Companies have discussed creating cobalt-free batteries, or investing in solid-state batteries, a much-touted alternative to
today's lithium-ion batteries. But these ideas are still under development. Meanwhile, automakers are preparing to launch
more electric cars. For now, they'll have to make the most of limited lithium and cobalt supplies...'

SOURCE:

Of course, the MSM continue to tow the line of their controllers:

Electric cars news - Here’s when they are expected to cost the same as petrol and diesel.

'New research has suggested when electric cars could cost the same as petrol and diesel vehicles in the
UK and it is sooner than you may expect...'

The Express:


I know that there are plenty of 'myth-busters' on the internet that state electric cars have a smaller carbon
footprint than conventional vehicles and that's partly true. But this unfair statistic is solely based on the finished
product and not the acquisition of the materials to construct the main component, the battery.