The German automaker believes that the current technological advancement is still not enough to make electric cars as affordable as ICE cars. In an interview with Road&Track, Mercedes CTO Markus Schaefer opined that EV prices might actually rise soon.
He said that the latest battery tech adopted by the mass market has production costs that cannot drop below $50 per kilowatt-hour no matter what. Reaching this milestone is essential for making electric cars as affordable as traditional ones. Higher-capacity batteries are either still in development or only function as intended in lab conditions, with no way to make them viable for commercial use.
According to Schaefer, there is simply no setting a deadline for the EV to go down in price considerably. When and whether it may happen will depend on many factors, including the speed with which EVs will continue to evolve and the rates at which raw materials for batteries are mined.
The demand for lithium as a raw material for battery production may skyrocket soon as EVs and all kinds of electric appliances find more use worldwide. Mercedes believes that the demand may eventually exceed the capacity of mining industries worldwide, leading to price hikes and shortages. Experts predict that lithium shortages might continue until mid-2020s.