[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The American electric vehicle company Tesla Motors has raised the prices of its cars.
According to major foreign media on the 9th (local time), Tesla announced on its website that it would increase the prices of the Model Y sport utility vehicle (SUV) and the Model 3 Long Range sedan sold in the United States by $1,000 (approximately 1.23 million KRW) each. It also added that the prices of the same models produced in China would be raised by 10,000 yuan (approximately 1.94 million KRW) each.
Tesla raised the prices of the Model 3 and Model Y more than ten times last year alone. The U.S. selling price of the Model Y Long Range sedan increased by about 20% compared to January last year. The price of the Model 3 Long Range also rose by 10.6% during the same period.
Since last year, raw material prices have continuously risen, leading Tesla to keep increasing the prices of its electric vehicles. As the upward trend in raw material prices continues, there are forecasts that the popularization of electric vehicles will be delayed accordingly.
Gregory Miller, an analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said, "As raw material prices such as nickel and lithium continue to rise, the price of batteries, the most expensive component in electric vehicles, may end its long-term decline and start to increase."
Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicted that although the price of lithium-ion battery packs, which exceeded $1,200 per kWh in 2010, fell to $132 last year?about one-tenth of the previous price?it is expected to slightly rise to $135 this year.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of last month, the surge in raw material prices has accelerated further. On the 8th, at the London Metal Exchange (LME) in the United Kingdom, nickel prices surged by 111% intraday to a record high of $101,365, causing trading to be suspended. Russia supplies 10% of the world's nickel and Norilsk Nickel, a Russian nickel producer, supplies 15-20% of the world's battery-grade nickel.
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