Lithium, Cobalt Costs Hinder Battery-Powered Car Sales: HSBC

  • Bank trims forecast for battery-electric vehicle market share
  • HSBC sees 2020 ‘inflection point’ as battery costs decline
Photographer: Marcelo Perez del Carpio/Bloomberg
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High prices for lithium and cobalt will hinder sales growth in battery-powered vehicles the next few years, according to HSBC Holdings Plc.

Global market share by 2025 for fully electric vehicles will be lower than previously projected -- 9.4 percent, compared with an earlier estimate of 10.5 percent, HSBC analysts Alexandre Falcao and Augusto Ensiki said in a report. At the same time, they doubled their forecast for plug-in hybrid EVs to 5.5 percent of the market by 2025, from 2.4 percent.