Drivers hoping to purchase a new electric vehicle are facing waits of up to a year to receive their new car according to an investigation by the Press Association.

Though the demand for EVs being strong is great news, the flipside of that is that a ‘bottleneck’ is delaying delivery of some of the most popular brands. The investigation found that some brands are even unable to make any guarantees at all on the number of vehicles arriving in the UK.

While many manufacturers are making bold commitments to switching to EV models, it appears that the production of batteries to go in the vehicle is holding up production.

“Not all lithium-ion batteries can be used in all electric vehicles,” said Simon Moories from lithium-ion specialists Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

“There are quality and scale issues at play, and they don’t usually go hand in hand. “Western EV makers need the highest-quality lithium-ion batteries for a multitude of reasons, including safety, range and longevity. The surge in EV demand in the past two years has meant that tier one battery producers – such as Panasonic and Tesla, LG Chem and Samsung SDI – are playing catch-up.

“Global capacity of tier one lithium-ion battery supply is still an issue, but we are seeing a shortage in the quality and quantity of key raw materials, especially graphite anode at present.”
Korean brands appear to be having the biggest struggle getting their EVs into the hands of customers with both Kia and Hyundai anticipating waiting times of up to 12 months and a Kia spokesperson admitting that the delay was due to battery suppliers being unable to meet demand.

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