Swedish researchers: Now electric cars cheap – Aftonbladet

Soon, it may be cheap to buy electric cars – for real.

The price of batteries has dropped considerably and may soon electric cars become competitive with gasoline cars.

– Many people thought that it was very expensive to start building electric cars, says research director Måns Nilsson.

Soon, electric cars become a reality for a much larger customer base. At least if the price falls of recent years continue at the same rate as before – which opens up substantially reduced prices.

A study by the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in conjunction with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) shows that prices for batteries dropped from 8600 per kilowatt hour in 2007 to SEK 2 600 per kilowatt hour last year. This means a fall of 70 per cent and that the price tag for an equivalent of 60 kWh battery in the Tesla Model S decreased from 516 000 SEK to 156 000 SEK.

“The situation is impressive”

Continuing price drop at this rate, we are already in a few years have competitive prices even on electric cars.

– The situation is particularly impressive as production and sales of electric cars has gone up significantly until recent years. If prices continue to fall at this rate can cost 1300 per kilowatt hour have been reached in the early 2020s. It is also at the price that experts and analysts believe that electric cars are competitive with petrol and diesel cars, says Björn Nykvist, researchers at SEI.

The capacity is being expanded

Around the world is now built capacity in the world’s battery factories out a lot. Tesla is based in Nevada’s “gigafactory” as 2020 is supposed to produce 35 gigawatt hours per year – more than 2013 throughout the global production. Meanwhile, the Chinese BYD, the world’s sixth largest electric vehicle manufacturer, announced that in early 2020 intend to have 1:34 GWh factory finished.

It is hoped that the large-scale battery manufacturing to lower cost and make available to more people. But it also means that the demand for precious metals will skyrocket, especially lithium, which include in Bolivia.

– Furthermore, it is interesting that it has not previously had better estimates. My interpretation is that many thought it was very expensive to start building electric cars, but when Nissan, Tesla and the other made honest attempts showed that it was possible to produce battery packs for much lower prices than many previously thought. So in recent years, low cost surprises, says Måns Nilsson, Adjunct Professor at KTH, Research Director at SEI and co-author of the study.

The future large battery boom also places greater demands on countries’ electricity grids and electricity production. In the current situation of many countries electricity so dirty that an efficient diesel car actually has less emissions over an entire life cycle. Learn more here!