Carmakers Are Switching to Cheaper EV Batteries, But There's a Big Trade-Off

pcmag.com:

An ongoing debate within the auto industry about which type of battery to put in electric vehicles is not going in favor of the millions of Americans living in colder climates. Multiple brands are switching from the current standard, nickel cobalt manganese (NCM), to a cheaper, more abundant version, known as lithium iron phosphate (LFP)—primarily on their cheaper vehicles.

There are plenty of pros and cons for both chemistries, though a known con of LFP batteries is their range drops faster in cold weather due to lower energy density. However, their lower cost and higher availability are appealing to car companies seeking to reduce vehicle wait times and keep prices down as the cost of NCM materials is at an all-time high.

Sub-par performance in cold weather is a known EV issue, even with LCM batteries that power the majority of EVs today. Multiple lawsuits claim brands like Tesla(Opens in a new window) and BMW(Opens in a new window) overstate vehicle range given they are simply not achievable in cold temperatures. In PCMag's own testing of a brand-new Tesla this winter in Chicago, the vehicle got half the advertised range.

"On average EVs lose about 40% of their range in cold temperatures," says Greg Bannon, director of automotive research at AAA, which published a detailed study(Opens in a new window) on the topic. "You can find yourself in a situation where you thought you could get to where you're going, but then your range is as much as 50-60% less than advertised. So yeah, it's a real issue for people in cold climates and we've shouted it from the rooftops."

Carmakers have their backs against the wall between high costs and the desire to accelerate their rapidly growing EV businesses. The Biden administration