johnnynerdout
Mar 22, 20211 min
Whether you know it or not, there is a battery cell shortage occurring! I started seeing evidence of this at the beginning of 2021, and have seen it grow into more of a problem. Engineering.com predicted this back in 2018 and attributed it to the lack of mines. That, in addition to the ever-increasing demand by electric car manufacturers, we are running out of batteries!
Electric vehicles are not the only thing eating away at this battery shortage. There is a rise in demand for electric lawn equipment and, more recently, a record-high demand for Ebikes. With this unfortunate set of circumstances, people may have to resort to paying an extra cost or buying lower-quality batteries if they still want to hop on the Ebike "wagon." I can see battery prices skyrocketing by up to 50 percent leaving them unaffordable for a lot of people. The other option, as I mentioned, would be to use generic, Chinese-made cells instead. I don't like this option either since the reliability isn't nearly as good as the premium cells made by makers like LG, Panasonic, and Samsung, to name a few.
The moral of the story: don’t be surprised if that Ebike or Ebike conversion you've been saving up for ends up costing you more than you originally planned, and expect to see a rise in battery malfunctions and failures due to the substitution of subpar/generic cells. There are many high-tech players involved like, GM, Toyta, Huyundai as well as private companies looking to reinvent this sector. I am excited to see what new battery technology will come out next.