The London Times fired a broadside at electric car batteries on December 3, 2018. It says take-up of green energy is slowing because of batteries driving electric vehicle prices higher than most can afford. Moreover it does not think the batteries are good enough, when comparing driving to
convenience of combustion engines. We are at a crossroads. Where do we go from here with battery costs?
Are Batteries Driving Electric Car Buyers Away?
Klaus Frölich, the 58-year-old BMW board member in charge of development thinks this is the case. Because he believes their prices mean gasoline cars will always cost less when taking a narrow view.
“It’s very simple,” he told the London Times. “In EVs with 90 to 100kWh battery packs, the cell cost alone will be $17,000 to $25,000. You can produce whole cars, only with the cost of the battery.” Moreover, he does not believe economies of scale will close the price gap. In fact, the prices of rare minerals will rise and BMW is stockpiling cobalt.
The Elephant in the Lounge of Global Warming
If Klaus Frölich is right then we need a fresh approach to the batteries driving electric cars. While well-heeled western motorists may be able to afford the cost differential, the third world definitely cannot.
We know that gasoline cars are a horrendously expensive environmental disaster in the long run. However some world leaders refuse to accept this reality for reasons of political expediency, and dare we say pride. We begin to wonder whether we will ever achieve the global warming targets we have set ourselves.
While the clock is ticking the leaders of the nations of the world continue bickering. What chance will we ever have, as long as some don’t even want to look seriously at the problem?
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