Electric Vehicle Batteries Becoming Cheaper, Poised to Dominate the Car Industry

With EV batteries reportedly becoming more affordable, reports predict that electric vehicles -- which allows consumers to save energy and the environment -- will soon dominate the automobile industry.

All of these are courtesy of new information revealed by reports from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

According to John McElroy of the Ward, as reported in  Clean Technica, the original cost for electronic propulsion is at $125 per kilowatt hour back in 2010. The significantly high price was during the time when the potential of EVS is still not clear, so cost of the system was equal to the internal combustion engine,

However, the article revealed that some experts actually see that by 2020, the costs will be under $100, going for as low as $80 per kilowatt hour.

Clean Technica said that should this happen, it will open doors for EV to rule the automobile industry. For instance, car prices would go down and be more affordable to the public. EV batteries actually take a bulk of the whole EV's price, so cheaper batteries mean a more affordable retail price.

General Motors chief Mark Reuss confirmed this in a report from Green Car Reports. He detailed that the batteries used for new EV Chevy Bolt currently costs $145 per kilowatt hour. However, if the price falls to $100 per kilowatt hour, then the whole car would retail for less than $4,000.

Companies like Tesla, which battery packs today cost $190 per kilowatt hour, would also be lowering car prices.

If this happens, experts predict a 1 million growth in EV battery sales per year in the U.S. alone. Hybrids will also contribute to another 1 million in unit sales, increasing the market share of EVs from its current 1 percent to as high as 10 percent.

It's fascinating how one car component, the battery, could drastically change the whole landscape of the car industry. And with the changing preference to clean energy, there will come a time that consumers will rely on EVs not by choice, but by necessity. Because after all, if projections are right, the coal industry might fall and all we have to use are EVs.