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The winding road to electric cars
A recent study revealed some disappointing projections about the ability of automakers to bring down the cost of electric vehicles, which means bringing down the cost of the batteries.
Turns out that's hardly the only problem. Automotive News reports the view of one battery company CEO -- Ener1 Inc.'s Charles Gassenheimer -- who says the needed scale-up in battery manufacturing is daunting. Very daunting.
“Demand doesn't appear to be the problem for battery-makers,” Gassenheimer said in their story. “It's the ability to supply.”
From Automotive News account:
Even pessimistic projections for EV [electric vehicle] growth to 1 to 2 percent of global vehicle production would require as many lithium-ion cells as are built annually today for appliances such as laptop computers, he said. Meeting more optimistic projections would require 10 times that capacity.
The company, which has plants in Indiana and South Korea, plans to spend as much as $800 million to boost capacity.
