[RahulNagaraj]

The demand for electric vehicles across the globe has been increasing at a rapid pace over the past couple of years. However, there is still a significant initial cost difference between electric vehicles and their IC-engine powered counterparts. According to Mercedes-Benz's Chief Technical Officer, Markus Schaefer, this price difference will remain for the foreseeable future.



Speaking to a media outlet, Schaefer stated that EVs are not expected to get any cheaper in the coming years. He added that the 'price parity' being talked about in the industry is not achievable with the current commercially available battery technology.

Schaefer added that the high-density batteries required to make EVs affordable don't yet exist. Even if it does, it's only under controlled lab settings and will take years before being properly adopted in the automotive industry.

While the increase in demand for EVs has helped economies of scale, it has also led to other challenges. This includes putting pressure on the mining capacity for raw materials. Setting up more mines is a complicated and expensive affair.

Having said that, Honda & GM recently announced a partnership to co-develop a series of 'affordable EVs', the first of which, is scheduled to be launched in 2027.

Source: RoadandTrack

Link to Team-BHP news

[omranga98]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

This includes putting pressure on the mining capacity for raw materials. Setting up more mines is a complicated and expensive affair.

What the World desperately needs right now are some trustable independent agencies who could keep a close check on the mining of these materials.

We are at the first stage of the EV boom and if started early, mining and production habits can be streamlined from the start to ensure the cleanest and most sustainable methods.

If not, it will end up doing more damage than good.

[ArTigor]

Sour Grapes!
This statement is irrelevant with rising fuel and maintenance cost.
As Elon Musk said in one of his interviews it is not going to be about the procurement cost, it is all going to come down to ownership cost for the overall lifecycle.
Mercedes should take a leaf out of the asian manufacturers, just see even Tata's case how their EV have hit the right affordable spot.
Yes maybe the EV tech might not cost lesser than ICE atleast in the immediate future, but the gap has significantly reduced. If we see things like rising fuel prices, DPF, adblue and additional maintenance cost associated, EVs look much better positioned against ICE.

[Shresth_EV]

Ironic it’s coming from Mercedes. Might I point out that neither their EVs nor ICE are cheap by any means — and to no discredit, I have immense respect and admiration for the brand, but to say it as a general statement is strange.

Companies HAVE to develop an economy of scale and make cars cheaper. It’s as if smartphones never achieved price parity with button dumb phones. Despite the fact that there too, the touchscreen and the battery itself was the costliest part in the device (still is)

Apple still sells you iPhones for 800-1100$ even when there exists a good economy of scale in the market. Let’s even leave iPhone, even 500$ phones with similar hardware exist, yet you can get a good phone for 300$ easily. Why? Because companies made the effort to make such a device available.

So it confuses me. Does he want to say “MB won’t sell their EVs cheaper even if we can build them for cheaper in future” or does he mean to make a blanket statement — because the latter is falling apart on day one with many Chinese brands making really good affordable EVs.

If Mercedes doesn’t want to, somebody else will make cheap EVs (not that I expect them to) with good price parity — Apple is to Tesla what BYD is to brands like Xiaomi.

BYD is making some really good specimens in this regard, so is XPeng. I don’t intend to compare a $140K EQS with a BYD Han, but at the price point of a BYD Han, the comparable cars aren’t that good either.

Safety has also increased in Asian cars, and again, will depend on the segment. One cannot expect a $20K EV like the Tata Nexon EV or the BYD Yuan to have comparable safety to a Volvo costing 3x that price.

[drjaygoyal]

I really do not understand all the fuss about electric cars.

Till we charge electric cars with electricity generated by burning coal and other hydrocarbons, how does it make sense ? Electric cars are the future, but we need green electricity first !!!

Better to work on improving efficiency of ICE engines till we make green energy a real deal.

This is IMO..open to criticism and suggestions. Cheers

[McLaren_P1]

For now and the foreseeable future, with ICE cars being so much more affordable than EVs and with the prices of raw materials for EVs increasing, price parity for ICE and EVs is still quite far off. There are public studies available on this.
Chinese make all cars cheaper due to their big scale for a single market (so low complexity and high volume). Similar to other OEMs, their ICE is much cheaper than their EVs. The difference for them is both their ICE/EVs are more affordable vs American/Japanese/Korean equivalents.

The right mechanism towards a genuine low emission world while ensuring affordability of transport, is worth thinking carefully about, for governments and policy makers.

[sunilg33]

The share of India's renewable energy to hydrocarbons is rising and is almost 40% currently. According to the Paris climate agreement they had to achieve 50% by 2030 and they are on the track to achieve well within it.
So the fact that electricity is generated by burning hydrocarbons is factually incorrect.

Some of the team-bhp members have even got a rooftop solar panel installed and charging exclusively using this.
Overall the cost of the batteries along with the global chip shortage is slowing the EV juggernaut, but the change is inevitable and the writing is on the walls for the ICE vehicles.

[drjaygoyal]

Originally Posted by sunilg33

The share of India's renewable energy to hydrocarbons is rising and is almost 40% currently. According to the Paris climate agreement they had to achieve 50% by 2030 and they are on the track to achieve well within it.
So the fact that electricity is generated by burning hydrocarbons is factually incorrect.

Some of the team-bhp members have even got a rooftop solar panel installed and charging exclusively using this.
Overall the cost of the batteries along with the global chip shortage is slowing the EV juggernaut, but the change is inevitable and the writing is on the walls for the ICE vehicles.

I live in mumbai in a complex with many buildings in one complex. I really can’t put up a solar charging station. Also 99% of electricity that we get is via thermal plants. I.e. via burning coal.

Smaller cities and stand alone houses I can understand, but in apartments electric vehicles are still a challenge. Especially installing charging points.

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by sunilg33

The share of India's renewable energy to hydrocarbons is rising and is almost 40% currently. According to the Paris climate agreement they had to achieve 50% by 2030 and they are on the track to achieve well within it.
So the fact that electricity is generated by burning hydrocarbons is factually incorrect.

Some of the team-bhp members have even got a rooftop solar panel installed and charging exclusively using this.
Overall the cost of the batteries along with the global chip shortage is slowing the EV juggernaut, but the change is inevitable and the writing is on the walls for the ICE vehicles.

The graph you shared is for installed capacity, not actual usage or supply. Coal remains a critical part of the energy mix, so it's factually correct that hydrocarbons have a big role in electricity generation.

Solar panels are a drop in the ocean, majority of us live in apartments where solar of not feasible.

Mercedes-Benz is right, EVs are for the rich and will remain so for a long time. Virtue signalling is expensive and it should be.

[sunilg33]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

The graph you shared is for installed capacity, not actual usage or supply. Coal remains a critical part of the energy mix, so it's factually correct that hydrocarbons have a big role in electricity generation.

Solar panels are a drop in the ocean, majority of us live in apartments where solar of not feasible.

Mercedes-Benz is right, EVs are for the rich and will remain so for a long time. Virtue signalling is expensive and it should be.

Are you implying that there is a huge difference between installed and actual usage capacity?

[nagr22]

Originally Posted by sunilg33

Are you implying that there is a huge difference between installed and actual usage capacity?

What he means is solar panels and even wind energy for that matter is not a continuous source of energy. You can have installed capacity of 100GW but the actual generation depends on various climatic conditions (time of day, cloud cover, wind speed etc) which are unpredictable.

[sunilg33]

Originally Posted by nagr22

What he means is solar panels and even wind energy for that matter is not a continuous source of energy. You can have installed capacity of 100GW but the actual generation depends on various climatic conditions (time of day, cloud cover, wind speed etc) which are unpredictable.

I do get that, but of late the power distribution is different from how it was a decade or 2 before. Most of the large scale power generation projects feed the output to the central grid and the distribution is from there. There is so much of a push toward new solar and other renewable power projects from the current govt and I am just curious to know what percentage of the installed capacity is going unused.

[CliffHanger]

Took this in ECR yesterday. Affordability is subjective and relative, Mercedes! Hit on the road to see what's coming ahead!

[CarJunki]

Case of sour grapes or fear of competent cars produced in europe?
In many cases a Tesla with lower initial cost as well as total cost of ownership will beat most Mercs ICE cars in performance.
Performance and Value delivered per Euro would be much higher for Tesla cars.
What Merc is crying about is that there is no possibility of surviving with current mental buildup for them. Change is difficult and jarring.

[Ajay_Sensei]

Originally Posted by omranga98

We are at the first stage of the EV boom and if started early, mining and production habits can be streamlined from the start to ensure the cleanest and most sustainable methods.

If not, it will end up doing more damage than good.

Very well said, that is an extremely insightful point you have made. We already know how the race for minerals for electronics has impacted the environment and political environment in Africa. Pure consumption oriented growth in EVs will neither be sustainable nor environmentally beneficial. Sure, we will get a massive reduction in tail pipe emissions.