Electric car could be cheaper by 2030, bad news for gas-powered one

Between now and 2021, battery production all over the world will more than double, Bloomberg reports. With more companies getting into the game, expansion and competition are up, and prices are down. This will mean more opportunities for energy companies and electric car manufacturers, and better deals for consumers looking to purchase clean powered technology for less money.
The key is an expected increase in the number of battery factories, which will boost production capacity—and thus provide the economies of scale needed to make batteries cheaper.

Batteries make up about 40% of the cost of electric cars, and so with this increased competition and the resulting drop in the price of these batteries is going to cause the cost of electric cars to fall. Benchmark Minerals reports that costs per-kilowatt-hour have dropped from $542 in 2012 to $139 where they are now. Benchmark analysts indicate that kWh costs will plummet beneath the $100 mark by 2020.

Nine of the world's largest new battery factories are also under construction in China. The country, which is the world's largest new car market, has long promoted electric cars using government incentives and other perks. China is also set to enact stricter fuel-economy standards that could encourage more automakers to go electric.

All things considered, Bloomberg speculates that the 2020s will see the real rise of electric cars — including their eventual overtaking of gasoline-powered cars in both cost and value. “As battery costs fall and their energy density increases, we could see cheaper battery-electric cars than their fuel-burning equivalents by 2030,” Bloomberg analyst Nikolas Soulopoulos commented in their report.

Reuters reported that VW plans to build 100,000 electric cars per year in China by 2020,  after it received approval for a new joint venture with state-owned company.