Eric Ramírez, director for Latin America at Urban Science, points out that China leads the way in cost reductionTherefore, the most affordable electric vehicles for the Mexican market could come from that country.
“I think we are beginning to see different market segments, but if I see an advantage for the real democratization of access, it is the Chinese, manufacturing in China, since they are the most advanced in the production of batteries at lower costs,” asserted in an interview with Expansion.
China ranks first in lithium processing, with local company Ganfeng Lithium in the lead. In addition, the Asian giant is the third largest lithium producer in the worldwith a capacity of 19,000 metric tons of the white mineral at the end of last year, behind only Australia and Chile, according to data from the German consultancy Statista.
This integration into the lithium battery production chain has favored China. In 2022, the Asian country positioned itself as the main producer of electric vehicles worldwide, representing 64% of global production. Approximately 580,000 of these vehicles were exported from China, with the majority being Western brands such as Tesla, Volvo and BMW, while higher-volume brands include Saic and BYD, according to data from EV Volumes.
Until now, China is the country from which more cars are imported into Mexico, since one in five cars sold comes from that country, representing the 18.78% of the origin of the cars sold in Mexico, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
Electric cars for less than 400,000 pesos?
So far, most of the offer of electric cars is concentrated in the segment of premium vehiclessince there are 15 models available in the Mexican market, while in the volume segment there are only five models available, according to an analysis made by Expansion.
Guillermo Rosales, president of the Mexican Association of Automotive Distributors, points out that little by little the manufacturing gap between internal combustion and electric vehicles will decrease, mainly due to the investments they have made in the field China, Germany and the United States.
“Everything that they are investing in research, production and development is having results and you will have it more quickly for the following years, which will allow this goal to be reached. cross between manufacturing costs and therefore, sales for electric vehicles versus those with internal combustion”, added Rosales in an interview with Expansion.
But Ramírez calculates that they will pass between five and 10 yearsat least, to achieve a greater dynamism of electric cars in the local market.