EV or electric vehicle prices could also face a massive increase amid the ongoing surge of fuel costs.
To go with AFP story China-auto-show-environment-Tesla,FOCUS by Bill Savadove This picture taken on March 17, 2015 shows Tesla Model S vehicles parked outside a car dealership in Shanghai. Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk has launched spacecraft into orbit, but popularising his Tesla electric cars in China is proving to be tougher than rocket science.
Some folks have been embracing electric cars to avoid the burden that fuel-powered auto owners are facing due to the increasing prices of fuel around the globe.
However, the cost of buying a new electric car could also be facing a massive increase.
EV Prices Could Also Shoot Up
As per a news story by CNBC, the threat to the prices of electric cars comes as an essential material in producing batteries for vehicles is also facing a drastic shoot up in prices.
On top of that, it turns out that Russia, which is now in conflict with Ukraine and has been facing numerous economic sanctions, is a key player in supplying nickel to EV makers.
In fact, CNBC said in the same report that the price of nickel has already jacked up to a staggering $100,000 per ton. As a result, the London Metal Exchange has already suspended nickel trading following the massive price increase of the precious metal.
Meanwhile, an auto analyst of Morgan Stanley, Adam Jonas, noted that nickel has already increased its price by a whopping 67.2% on March 7.
That said, Jonas revealed that the immense price increase of the metal results in approximately a hefty $1,000 addition to the production cost of an electric vehicle in the United States.
Read Also: Smart EV Charging Reduces Carbon Emissions By A 'Substantial' Amount--Study
EV Makers and Nickel
However, according to a recent report by The Verge, Russia is not actually the biggest supplier of nickel in the world. In fact, the Russian nation only accounts for six percent of the total production supply.
Therefore, the news outlet said that Russia only lags behind both the Philippines and Indonesia in nickel production, making it the third-largest player in the world.
However, it turns out that Russia accounts for 20 percent of the nickel supply that EV makers, as well as the manufacturers of batteries, are using.
It is worth noting that the CEO and founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, has been worried about its use of nickel for its battery cells in its EVs.
Musk himself admitted that nickel gives the EV tech giant a scaling problem. Thus, the auto CEO wants to replace the metal with cathode tech. However, it could only be limited to a short range of use.
The Verge noted that even other automakers, such as Volkswagen are already looking for ways to completely ditch nickel in their EV batteries.
But until nickel-use in EV batteries has been completely replaced, there is still a potential that prices of electric cars could also face a massive increase.
Related Article: California EV Transition Faster Than Biden Admin's-But, Environmental Groups Want Better Promotions as Gas Price Increases
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Teejay Boris
