A Trefis evaluation from January concluded that Tesla’s Gigafactory is paying dividends. The research, revealed in Forbes, estimated the automaker’s battery prices fell 45 p.c from 2016 to 2019, a median drop of $7,000 per automobile.
However Ford argues that its reliance on suppliers additionally might scale back costs.
“It offers us the flexibility to entry the newest know-how and innovation throughout a number of suppliers,” Thai-Tang stated. “So I do know precisely what the cutting-edge is from the Korean suppliers, the Japanese suppliers, the Chinese language suppliers, and I can examine notes throughout them perhaps higher than they will. After which, after all, we’ve got the aggressive rigidity with coping with a number of suppliers, which permits us to drive the associated fee down.”
Regardless of its insistence that the availability base is ready, Ford has stated tight battery provides would restrict the upcoming Mustang Mach-E to 50,000 autos globally in its first yr of manufacturing.
Nonetheless, the corporate is hesitant to lock itself right into a sure sort of battery, with Thai-Tang citing Toyota Motor Corp. as a cautionary story.
“They invested to vertically combine nickel-metal hydride batteries for his or her hybrids,” he stated. “And after spending over $1 billion to try this, the know-how shifted to lithium ion, and so they have been among the many final to change over. I do not wish to put Ford in that place.”
