California EV Rebate Funding is Exhausted for Now; Draft Technical Assessment Report of Fuel Economy Targets Released by US Regulators; Battery Raw Material Lithium Carbonate Sees Price Decrease in China
California EV Rebate Funding is Exhausted for Now
According to the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, the funding for the rebate program is used up for now. Applications for the rebate after June 10th are held on a waitlist.
California lawmakers are discussing the FY 2016-17 budget, from which the funding for the rebate program is supposed to come.
The state rebate was $2,500 for pure electric car and $1,500 for plug-in hybrid.
Draft Technical Assessment Report of Fuel Economy Targets Released by US Regulators
The draft report was released jointly by EPA, DOT and CARB. It kicked off a midterm evaluation of fuel economy standards for 2022-2025. The final determination of the midterm evaluation on whether the standards are still appropriate will be made by April 2018. The current standard for 2025 is 54.4 MPG for company average fuel efficiency.
The highlights of the draft report include: 1. Automakers are innovating in a time of record sales and fuel economy levels; 2. Our new analysis shows that the standards can be met largely with more efficient gasoline powered cars – we continue to project that only modest penetration of hybrids and only low levels of electric vehicles are needed to meet the standards; 3. The National Program preserves consumer choice, even as it protects the environment and reduces fuel consumption.
On the other hand, carmakers are feeling pressure for meeting future standards. MPG improvement has been stagnating for the past 2 years or so, partly due to cheap gas price.
Battery Raw Material Lithium Carbonate Sees Price Decrease in China
Hot EV sales in China were driving the price of lithium carbonate high. It was more than doubled in 2015 and saw another 50% increase in March, to $27.8 thousand/ton (or 180 thousand yuan/ton).
According to China Times, the price of lithium carbonate has dropped by 22% in the second quarter of this year. This result is related to the slowdown of EV battery production – 40% less than the first quarter.
China has sold 170,000 plug-in EVs in the first 6 months of this year, or a 127% increase as compared with the same period of last year. On the other hand, the sales are far behind the goal of 700,000 for the year. The June sales are less than half of the December sales last year.