Silly car question #53: if EVs have 'wee' electric motors, why are they so expensive?

Thursday, 11 July 2019

Pure-EVs are a small part of NZ's electrified vehicle fleet - but there's still a lot of choice.

OPINION: National MP (and Opposition Transport spokesperson) Judith Collins has tweeted that NZ should not be subsidising EVs because there is 'precious little to them' and they have a 'wee electric motor'.

They should just be cheaper: 'Can someone assist please? …why do the manufacturers charge so much for them?'.

First: sigh. Sometimes I am reminded what a parochial and narrow-minded nation we live in, so far from the rest of the world.

National MP Judith Collins reckons EVs are simple and should be cheaper.

Second: yes, I can assist.

* What happens to EV batteries when they're worn out?

* Will we all be driving EVs in a few years?**

Nissan Leaf technology has come an incredibly long way in nine years. But such a journey costs money.

EVs are expensive everywhere in the world because they are a relatively new technology and still in the early days of development. The car industry is spending billions of dollars working out how to make them work in the best way.

Putting aside niche and limited-run models, the first mass-market EV of the modern era was only produced in 2010: the Nissan Leaf. Look at the range and technology of the 2010 model versus the latest and you'll see how far EV technology has come in that time. That costs.

Bit bigger than an iPhone, right? This is the li-ion battery pack of a Hyundai Kona Electric.

EVs have a 'wee' electric motor, but they also have enormous lithium-ion batteries, which is where the cost comes in.

A lot of the hardware cost of your $2000 iPhone Xs is its li-ion battery, which has a capacity of 0.01kWh.

Hyundai Ioniq is NZ best-selling new EV since 2017. It'll be a top affordable used choice in years to come.

The new Nissan Leaf has a 40kWh battery, which is 4000 times larger.

So a capacity-adjusted price for the Leaf could be $8m. Makes the new one look like a bargain at $59,990, especially when it includes air conditioning and cupholders.

The bigger the car/range, the bigger the battery. Top Tesla models have a 100kWh power pack. You need it for the doors.

Lots of luxury EVs have batteries nearing 100kWh. The mind boggles.

Lithium is expensive and rising in cost due to demand from the electronics and automotive industries (it's doubled in the last decade), although it only represents about five per cent of the batteries' construction and it's not especially rare.

The price of lithium-ion batteries is coming down as mass-production takes hold. But they're still expensive.

Cobalt is another key element and much harder to come by - largely a byproduct of other mining operations.

Point is, li-ion batteries are not simple and neither are cars of any type.

Despite all of that, the price of li-ion batteries is falling as EV mass production takes hold.

According to Nissan, a li-ion battery pack cost it $500 per kWh when it launched the 2010 original; the figure for the latest model is $100 per kWh.

Savings there help fund battery development and allow carmakers to fit bigger-capacity units that give better range - which is what everybody wants.

Expert reckon we might reach price parity between petrol cars and EVs some time in the mid-2020s. Let's wait and see.

For now, EVs are expensive everywhere in the world - except for those countries that have chosen to subsidise them to increase consumer uptake.

And although I really don't think I should have to point this out, NZ is a tiny country and in no way special in terms of the global car market.

No carmaker has ever produced a car especially for NZ and no carmaker ever will.

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