An additional catalyst of this drop and a primary concern to the future financial
performance of the company, can be attributed to a more skeptic investor market
that begins to foresee electric vehicle battery stocks pulling back this year and
question the merits of fully electrics cars. This newfound skepticism can greatly
be attributed to a study performed by the National Academy of Sciences. The
study found that even the cost per mile driven on electricity is less expensive than
one driven on gasoline, it will likely take several decades before the upfront costs
decline enough to be offset by lifetime fuel savings. Furthermore, the study also
argues that PHEVs and HEVs cost more and have less range than regular cars
and that their battery performance deteriorates in cold weather.xxix