Mercedes-Benz claims the price of electric cars will never be cheap. Complex technology and the production of expensive batteries make cheap electric cars like a dream.
“Currently the battery price is USD 50/kilowatt. That price alone is not comparable to the cost of making conventional engines. I can say that (cheap electric cars) are very far from reality. I don’t see the potential that exists in us being able to do it,” said Markus Schafer, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Mercedes-Benz as quoted by Road and Track.
He said that currently comparing the price of an electric car with the price of a conventional car is not the right thing. The reason is that in terms of battery technology used by electric cars, it is already very complex and expensive.
Currently, according to him, there is an idea to make electric car batteries that are more affordable. It’s just that it still hasn’t come true. He even mentioned that there are no affordable electric car batteries. Even if there is only for research purposes only.
So he sees it is difficult for the future the price of electric cars will really be affordable by the public. Not to mention the availability of the main material for electric car batteries, which not all countries have.
“It will depend a lot on mining capacity [for raw materials] and the increase in EVs globally. So these are the two main factors,” said Markus Schafer.
Currently, according to him, the popularity of electric cars is indeed increasing. It is also what makes the demand for lithium batteries at a state beyond the available mining capacity. “To be honest, if we rely on the current battery material, the electric car really needs a breakthrough,” he concluded.