The exponential growth of the global electric mobility (E-Mobility) market is mainly driven by policy support, CO2 targets, technology advances and decreasing costs of LIBs [1]. The average prices of batteries for electric vehicles have fallen from $1,100 in 2010 to $156 per kWh in 2019 and are expected to fall below $100 by 2023 [2].

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In 2025, approximately 85% of EVs in Europe will be produced in five countries: Germany, Spain, France, United Kingdom and Italy [3]. According to McKinsey, German automakers will become the biggest EV manufacturers in the world by 2021 [4]. Such a fast uptake of the EV market in Europe creates a very high demand for LIBs. By 2024, it will reach about 136 GWh while the facilities in Europe, according to manufacturers’ plans, will be able to produce almost 150 GWh.

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It remains to be seen whether the demand for EVs will be slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Low oil prices are decreasing the running cost benefit of EV ownership when compared to ICE vehicles [5]. Furthermore, some European automakers lobby for the postponement of CO2 targets [6]. If successful, such relaxation of regulations might hamper the e-mobility transition of the European automobiles.

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References

[1]    I. E. Agency and International Energy Agency, “Global EV Outlook 2019.” 2019, doi: 10.1787/35fb60bd-en.
[2]    “Battery Pack Prices Fall As Market Ramps Up With Market Average At $156/kWh In 2019 | BloombergNEF,” BloombergNEF, Dec. 03, 2019. https://about.bnef.com/blog/battery-pack-prices-fall-as-market-ramps-up-with-market-average-at-156-kwh-in-2019/ (accessed Apr. 16, 2020).

[3]    Transport&Environment, “Electric surge: Carmakers’ electric car plans across Europe 2019-2025,” European Federation for Transport and Environment AISBL , Jul. 2019.
[4]    “German carmakers to become global EV market leaders from 2021 – McKinsey,” Clean Energy Wire, Mar. 05, 2020. https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/german-carmakers-become-global-ev-market-leaders-2021-mckinsey (accessed Apr. 16, 2020).
[5]    “COVID-19 puts EV sales and CO2 fleet emission targets at risk, says GlobalData - GlobalData,” GlobalData, Apr. 07, 2020. https://www.globaldata.com/covid-19-puts-ev-sales-and-co2-fleet-emission-targets-at-risk-says-globaldata/ (accessed Apr. 26, 2020).
[6]    “EU car lobby’s renewed attack on cars CO2 targets - on the back of.” https://www.transportenvironment.org/press/eu-car-lobby%E2%80%99s-renewed-attack-cars-co2-targets-back-covid-19 (accessed Apr. 26, 2020).
[7]    H. Bekker, “2019 (Full Year) Europe: Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Car Sales per EU and EFTA Country - Car Sales Statistics,” Car Sales Statistics, Feb. 06, 2020. https://www.best-selling-cars.com/electric/latest-europe-electric-and-plug-in-hybrid-car-sales-per-eu-and-efta-country/ (accessed Apr. 16, 2020).
[8]    Contributors to Wikimedia projects, “Plug-in electric vehicles in Europe - Wikipedia,” Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Jan. 29, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_Europe (accessed Apr. 16, 2020).
[9]    “The Nissan Leaf Experiment,” Mr. Money Mustache, Oct. 02, 2016.