Nissan Australia expects the new Leaf electric car will help push the cost of internal combustion powertrain emissions compliance in a upward trajectory.
AutoTalk was hosted by Nissan Australia for the Melbourne launch of the all-new Leaf in Melbourne this week where the company said the cost of designing and producing compliant internal combustion powertrains will reach a “crossover” with electric vehicles.
Citing Morgan Stanley Research, Nissan global director of EVs, Nic Thomas, says the amount of carbon dioxide and oxides of nitrogen produced from compliance of internal combustion drivetrain development will also rise.
The drivetrain costs of CO2 and NOx compliance for electric vehicles versus internal combustion keeps rising, with a crossover period, accounting for real-world driving emissions (RDE), expected around 2024.
Where current compliance costs sit at around $250 per kWh for an EV, it’s expected to drop below $100 per kWh by 2025, in the same two-year bracket when internal combustion is predicted to go from $175/kWh to $225/kWh.
“The costs of those conventional engines will go up,” Thomas says.
“These are the costs to us as a company of building traditional (internal combustion) engines in the way we always have,” he concedes.
“Therefore we’ll have to pass those costs onto consumers, not just us, but every other manufacturer,” he adds.
Nic Thomas, global EV director, Nissan.
Thomas explains with the cost of batteries is also coming down rapidly because Nissan is investing in them, mobile phone companies are investing in them, because the world needs batteries.
“Those battery costs are falling very rapidly which is why we’re offering the Leaf with a 40kWh battery at the same price we used to sell the car with a 24kWh battery,” he says.
“There will be a crossover very soon where a battery car will cost less than a petrol or diesel car,” Thomas highlights.
“But people aren’t really going to buy a car to save the world, they buy a car because it’s brilliant to drive,” he attests.
