Entities project a 40% increase in electric car batteries between 2024 and 2025 and a 100% increase in production cost for solid-state batteries, which are already more expensive
The rise in commodity prices is a reality in the country, seen every day. The effects are already impacting the pocket due to the various essential items, even weighing on the electric car battery. Now, the warnings given in recent months are joined by the Korean research institute SNE Research. The numbers released last Friday (16) are not at all pleasant, since they highlight significant price increases, by the Korean industry, ranging from 30% to 40% more than the 150 dollars per kWh of last year. The question that remains is: when will we see the impact of this increase in batteries? And the answer is simple: between 2024 or 2025, according to SNE data.
Solid-state batteries for electric cars will also see an increase
According to SNE Executive Vice President James Oh, during a recent seminar in Seoul, the company was in a meeting with cell manufacturers in Korea, prompting the company to change the outlook for used electric car battery prices.
The expectation, according to the Koreans, is that this component will increase in 2024 or 2025. The companies, in fact, did not go into details regarding the numbers, but it is worth mentioning that, according to the forecasts made, the increase will reach 40% .
Do lithium ao nickel, moving on to cobalt and manganese, almost all minerals must play a leading role in this bad phase of electric car batteries, which will have a cascading effect on the cells. However, things can get even worse for solid state batteries. At the same event, Jay Kim, vice president of LG Energy Solution, stated that component production costs could increase by up to 100%.
Possible solutions for increasing the battery of electric cars
As solid state batteries are based on sulfide electrolytes and are extremely expensive compared to other types as they require a lot of lithium. Sulfide electrolyte values may have levels doubled compared to last year.
Once the problems are understood, it is necessary to analyze them to find possible solutions. James revealed that electric car makers are pressuring Korean partners to produce more prismatic cells, rather than packaged cells, and to enter into new long-term contracts.
Elon Musk comments on the increase in lithium
The billionaire Elon Musk recently posted, in one of its social networks, its interest in entering the mining sector, mainly in the extraction of lithium, to maintain the flow of the metal, supplying the necessary demands for the production of batteries for electric cars.
Musk claims that the price of raw materials is out of control, so much so that the company would have to enter the mining and refining segment. There is no shortage of lithium, as lithium is found in almost every part of the planet, but the pace of extraction and refining is slow.
The billionaire's concern involves one of the essential commodities for electric cars to work. The same happens with other materials such as copper, cobalt and nickel, all essential, especially in a scenario where the use of electricity is proposed as the only alternative to oil.
The businessman is betting that the purchase of vehicles with batteries will expand greatly in the near future, and proof of this are the official openings of two new factories of his automaker, one in Berlin, to supply the European market, and another in Austin, in Texas.
