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Price of labor is part of it, but it's mostly the batteries. China is basically the only country that makes LFP batteries in high volume. That may be graduall

by elihu 2y ago

Price of labor is part of it, but it's mostly the batteries. China is basically the only country that makes LFP batteries in high volume. That may be gradually changing (some big patents expired not long ago), but it'll take time for other countries to ramp up their production if they can even be bothered to.

wakawaka28 2y ago
We could make more batteries in the US too but higher wages and environmental regulations put us at a disadvantage. The same applies to practically anything you can think of.
- Animats 2y ago
  One would think. But there's a track record of failure outside Asia. American Battery Factory seems to be good at press releases but not at shipping product.[1] Tesla had severe problems with in-house battery production. Mostly they packaged Panasonic and CATL cells. But the battery plant may be past that point, finally.[2] The only European company that makes LFE batteries in quantity is in Serbia, and they're still in the sample stage.[3] These new plants are starting to make a product Asian plants have been producing for years. All the big Asian makers are frantically trying to get the next generation, solid state battery production to work. Some of them have semi-solid state batteries working. Factorial in the US is trying to do that, too. [1] https://americanbatteryfactory.com/press https://americanbatteryfactory.com/press [2] https://insideevs.com/news/733985/tesla-4680-manufacturing-milestone-100m/ https://insideevs.com/news/733985/tesla-4680-manufacturing-m... [3] https://elevenes.com/en/contact https://elevenes.com/en/contact
  - wakawaka28 2y ago
    Chinese batteries are all over the place in terms of quality. Just because Tesla had problems does not mean those problems are insurmountable. They most likely would have been figured out all problems if they did not have the option to just buy batteries elsewhere. Chinese battery companies benefit from cheap labor, lax environmental regulations, and government subsidies. I think other countries aren't making many EV batteries for the same reason they aren't making much of anything else: because it isn't possible for them to compete with China on cost (yet).

by elihu 2y ago

wakawaka28 2y ago

We could make more batteries in the US too but higher wages and environmental regulations put us at a disadvantage. The same applies to practically anything you can think of.

Animats 2y ago
One would think. But there's a track record of failure outside Asia. American Battery Factory seems to be good at press releases but not at shipping product.[1] Tesla had severe problems with in-house battery production. Mostly they packaged Panasonic and CATL cells. But the battery plant may be past that point, finally.[2] The only European company that makes LFE batteries in quantity is in Serbia, and they're still in the sample stage.[3] These new plants are starting to make a product Asian plants have been producing for years. All the big Asian makers are frantically trying to get the next generation, solid state battery production to work. Some of them have semi-solid state batteries working. Factorial in the US is trying to do that, too. [1] https://americanbatteryfactory.com/press https://americanbatteryfactory.com/press [2] https://insideevs.com/news/733985/tesla-4680-manufacturing-milestone-100m/ https://insideevs.com/news/733985/tesla-4680-manufacturing-m... [3] https://elevenes.com/en/contact https://elevenes.com/en/contact
- wakawaka28 2y ago
  Chinese batteries are all over the place in terms of quality. Just because Tesla had problems does not mean those problems are insurmountable. They most likely would have been figured out all problems if they did not have the option to just buy batteries elsewhere. Chinese battery companies benefit from cheap labor, lax environmental regulations, and government subsidies. I think other countries aren't making many EV batteries for the same reason they aren't making much of anything else: because it isn't possible for them to compete with China on cost (yet).