Tesla may have a big advantage over Porsche and GM in the most expensive part of an electric car

Mark Matousek

Feb 12, 2020, 02:52 IST

Tesla may have a big advantage over Porsche and GM in the most expensive part of an electric car

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Tesla may be paying less for battery packs than rivals like General Motors and Porsche, according to Cairn Energy Research Advisors.
Last year, an electric-vehicle battery pack made with the kinds of cells Tesla uses cost around 25%-60% less than packs with cells used by companies like Porsche, General Motors, and BMW, Cairn estimated.
The battery pack is the most expensive part of an electric vehicle.
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Tesla may have a big cost advantage over rivals like General Motors and Porsche when it comes to battery packs, according to estimates from Cairn Energy Research Advisors.

An electric-vehicle battery pack made with cylindrical cells, the kind Tesla uses, cost $158 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) last year, the firm said. Battery packs made with pouch cells, like those used in the Porsche Taycan and Chevrolet Bolt EV, cost $200 per kWh last year and prismatic cells, like those used by BMW, cost $253 per kWh, according to Cairn.

Sam Jaffe, a managing director at Cairn, told Business Insider that companies buying or selling batteries rarely disclose prices, so the research firm estimates past and future prices based on a model comprised of over 500 variables, including commodity and chemical prices.

Estimated prices for battery packs made from all three cell types have declined significantly since 2016, when a cylindrical-cell pack cost $265 per kWh, a pouch-cell pack cost $285 per kWh, and a prismatic-cell pack cost $320 per kWh, according to Cairn.

That trend should continue over the next decade, Cairn estimates. In 2030, the firm predicts the prices per kWh for cylindrical, pouch, and prismatic-cell packs will fall to $98, $137, and $143, respectively.

Lower battery-pack prices could have a significant impact on the affordability of electric vehicles, which tend to cost more than their gas-powered counterparts, since the battery pack is the most expensive part of an electric vehicle.

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