U.S. sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids could reach 100,000 in three to five years
There’s a prediction that in three to five years, annual US sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids could increase to as high as 100,000 units.
Christina Lampe-Onnerud, founder and CEO of battery maker Boston-Power Inc., also said that EV sales in the US will go up as soon as the price of a battery pack drops to about $500 per kilowatt-hour. She believes that suppliers will achieve that price point soon. In an interview with Automotive News, Lampe-Onnerud said that the market is taking off faster than the analysts realize.” She also said that the industry has grossly underestimated the demand.
She disclosed that Boston-Power is bidding “aggressively” for automakers’ business. In fact, the company has already entered a deal to supply batteries for an EV version of the Saab 9-3. Boston-Power’s plant in Taiwan has launched pilot production of batteries for that vehicle.
Boston-Power is expected to soon reveal plans to construct a second battery plant in China. The company is known as the producer of lithium ion batteries for laptop computers, with Hewlett-Packard as a major customer. But what Lampe-Onnerud is most excited about is that Boston-Power has come up with a battery that will last the life of the vehicle it powers. This is definitely a major selling point since the battery pack accounts for about one-third of the cost of an EV.
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