It's the battery, stupid

Photograph: Andre Tillmann/ Mercedes-Benz AG

High end and electric cars in general are not succeeding as lithium ion batteries are too expensive, fragile and prone to catching fire in ways defying imagination as Lithium-ion fires can't be put out, ever. Additionally, recharging is limited to about a 1000 so, battery tech must evolve for EV vehicles to truly replace gas powered cars like the ones driven by yours truly. The tech will eventually solve the problem but it takes time as creating rugged, cheap and high intensity energy systems is not a trivial process as we all know. Lastly, extraction of lithium is an environmental nightmare but we already know that, right?

Li ion battery from a laptop computer.

It may well be able to wade through deep water, have crawl-assist mode for sketchy terrain, and even perform 360-degree swivel-on-the-spot tank turns, but sales of the seemingly much-anticipated electric Mercedes G-Class SUV have been poor. Actually, that’s an understatement. They’ve been woeful.

And it’s not the only e-flop from a legacy automaker: Just last week Ferrari announced that it is delaying its second EV model (the first will arrive in October) until at least 2028 because of weak demand. Porsche has cut back its plans for EVs amid soft sales of its electric Macan SUV and Taycan models. Indeed, depreciation on the Taycan is so eye-watering that some Porsche dealers have supposedly refused to take their own brand’s performance EV from owners looking to offload or upgrade.

And after the February closure of its Belgian factory, Audi’s Q8 E-tron has been discontinued. The shuttering of the Brussels plant, says Audi, was due to a “global decline in customer orders in the electric luxury class segment.” Yet, at the same time, global sales of EVs are going gangbusters—so what gives?

It's the battery, stupid.

“The transition to EVs is not just a case of putting a battery in a vehicle,” says Peter Wells, a business professor and director of the Center for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University in Wales, UK. “Large premium EVs require very large batteries to match anything like the performance of typical ICE versions, and this increases their price.”

Any questions?