Mainstream automakers have long said that the cause for delays in getting electric-vehicles to the market in large numbers has to due with getting large volumes of reliable and affordable batteries. According to a battery producers that spoke at “The Business of Plugging In” conference, all that is about to change.

Battery producers said that advanced batteries for electric-vehicles will be coming large volumes and at competitive price somewhere between 2015 and 2020.

Michael Andre, director of government affairs for Johnson Controls-Saft said that by 2020, annual sales of hybrids and electric-vehicles will be about 10 million. He said that by 2015, Johnson Controls-Saft plans to make enough batteries for plug-in hybrids to compete against conventional engines in cost over three years of ownership.

“I think we can take half the cost out from the systems as they stand today,” Andrew said.

Ric Fulop, co-founder of A123Systems Inc. agrees that material costs can come down at least 50 percent within the next decade.

- By: Kap Shah

Source: Detroit News