Surging prices for the metals that make up electric-vehicle batteries have ended a decadelong decline that brought the cost of EVs to within spitting distance of gasoline-powered vehicles.
Since 2010, lithium-ion battery prices on average have tumbled 90% to about $130 per kilowatt-hour. The magic number that makes electric vehicles competitive with internal-combustion engine vehicles is roughly $100 a kilowatt-hour. Many expected the battery industry to reach that mark in…
