4 ms·
Reality is that EV vehicle costs are heavily dependent on battery material prices and any breakthrough process would either use cheaper minerals or reduce the p
by daft_pink 1y ago
Reality is that EV vehicle costs are heavily dependent on battery material prices and any breakthrough process would either use cheaper minerals or reduce the price of existing minerals. ICE engines are made from widely available steel and aluminum and lots of labor and factories that build the complex mechanisms involved. EV’s require much less labor but the cost is mostly driven by the cost of minerals in the battery packs that is very expensive.
Maybe we should have expanding mining and made the underlying minerals much cheaper as opposed to subsidizing each individual vehicle.
- killingtime74 1y agoSodium ion batteries already only use abundant minerals and no lithium. Already a production car made with this in china. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-ion_battery https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-ion_battery
- Kirby64 1y agoSodium ion batteries have, at least currently, worse energy density than even LFP batteries. Also, current costs of sodium batteries are quite high. The latter will change over time of course, but energy density remains a problem. Nobody really wants a car that only goes 150mi, especially as their only car.
- bryanlarsen 1y agoLFP batteries are made from cheap, widely available elements. Lithium is quite common in the Earth's crust, more common than some of the trace components of high grade steel, like molybdenum. And they use a lot less energy to refine than Aluminum does.
- bryanlarsen 1y agoThe battery in this new truck is worth less than $3000, today. I don't think Ford can build an engine and a transmission for under $3K. The difference will be even more stark in 2027.