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The guy in the video says new batteries for his model s tesla would have costed him 20,000 Euros. With today's exchange that is the same as $27,346.00 CAD or $25143.86 USD. Apparently whether or not a new battery could even be installed was in question.
This brought up the question for me. Why are EV batteries so expensive?
So there you have the google search for what materials are needed to make an EV battery.
There is another google search screen shot bit telling us approximate quantities of those materials would be needed to make one of these batteries.
So the next logical step after this would be to determine the price of each of these materials. Cobalt. Nickel. Manganese, and Lithium.
Just before that, check out the periodic table of abundance since supply is a factor of price:
Notice they are not so abundant, Manganese is just to the left of Iron and Cobalt is just to the right of Iron, Lithium is just under Hydrogen, and Nickel is two to the right of Iron. Just encase you need help spotting them. Going by this picture, I wouldn't say any of them are horribly abundant.
Price of Cobalt:
https://www.metalary.com/lithium-price/
$33,000 per Metric Ton. Ok, google says there are 2204.62 pounds in a Metric-Ton or Tonne. 33,000/2204.62= 14.97USD/Pound or 33USD/Kg.
Price of Nickel:
Same website as the one we used for Cobalt tells us Nickel goes for 19,932.86USD/Tonne. 9.04USD/Pound or 19.93USD/Kg
Price of Lithium:
https://www.metalary.com/lithium-price/
Had to dig little dipper to get this price. The raw google search left a bit to be desired. Like what dollar and what mass. The website is saying Lithium was going for $16,500USD/Ton as of 2018! Apparently they don't want us to know todays price. You'd think there would be a simple answer to a simple question. Like doing an interview with Justice Trudeau.
https://www.argusmedia.com/metals-platform/metal/minor-and-specialty-metals-lithium
Well this site is a bit better. It says the price of Lithium-Carbonate is $63.5USD/Kg. But how do we compare Lithium-Carbonate to pure Lithium? So I guess I'll just use the 2018 price and hope it's in the same ballpark as the 2022 price! They have all those other metals listed nicely and up to date, dollar exchange and unit of mass. But for some reason, Lithium is some kind of secret, were allowed to know it was 16500USD/Tonne as of 2018.
Let's try another website- https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/lithium
Ok, this chart is pretty nice, they don't come out and say USD/Tonne, but perhaps savvy investors already know that and don't need those things defined. So I'll make that assumption and hope it's accurate. All I can say is, wow, this shit is expensive. 496500USD/Tonne. By the way, they say this is the price of Lithium-Carbonate, not pure Lithium, so bear that in mind. 225.21USD/Pound or 496.50USD/Kg.
One left, Manganese, and I suspect this one will be the biggest pain in the ass of all.
Ok, that wasn't so bad, this stuff isn't so expensive, only 4.5USD/Tonne. I had to read that about four times to believe it. I guess it is easy to refine? They expect me to believe someone could get a Tonne of this stuff for less then 5USD? It does say that is for Manganese ore and not pure manganese. So, 0.0020USD/Pound or 0.0045USD/Kg.
But the form we need to make batteries is Manganese-Dioxide.
https://www.chemicalbook.com/Price/Manganese-dioxide.htm
This website says 5kg/13USD, that makes little more sense.
So 2.6USD/Kg
Ok, so now that, that whole gathering prices shit show is over, let's compile this all.
***To make an EV batter we need:
8kg Lithium-Carbonate @ 496.50USD/kg = $3972.00
35kg Nickel @ 19.93USD/kg = $697.55
20kg Manganese-Dioxide @ 2.6USD/kg = $52.00
14kg Cobalt @ 33USD/kg = $462.00
Total $5183.55***
Ok, I know this number is a bit off because our Lithium isn't in the form it needs to be for the battery, and the materials haven't been put together yet to make a battery, but still. How do we connect the gap between $5183.55 all the way to $25143.86? That is a $19960.31 difference, you think that huge number could be explained away from manufacturing costs? I know a company has to eat, but how much of that is profit? Something just seems off to me here. Know something I don't? I'd sure love to know what the is, leave a comment if you're board and feeling social. Thanks.