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This year, people around the world are lining¹ up to buy electric vehicles even as prices increase.

今年世界各地的人们都在排队购买电动汽车，哪怕价格有所上涨。

Electric vehicle, EV, demand has stayed strong even as the average cost of lithium-ion battery cells increased to an estimated $160 per kilowatt²-hour in the first quarter from $105 last year. Costs rose due to supply issues, sanctions on Russian metals and investor³ speculation⁴.

尽管第一季度锂离子电池的平均成本已经从去年的105美元每千瓦时涨到了160美元左右，但是电动汽车的需求仍然强劲。由于供应问题、对俄罗斯金属的制裁以及投资者投机，成本有所上涨。

For a smaller vehicle like the Hongguang Mini, the best-selling EV in China, the higher battery costs added almost $1,500, equal to 30 percent of the listed price.

对于中国最畅销的电动汽车宏光Mini这样的小型汽车，电池成本增加了近1500美元，相当于标价的30%。

But gasoline and diesel⁵ fuel costs have also increased since Russia invaded Ukraine, and experts noted⁶ that environmental concerns also are pushing more buyers to choose EVs.

但是自俄罗斯入侵乌克兰以来，汽柴油燃料的成本也有上涨，专家指出，环境问题也在推动更多买家选择电动汽车。

Manufacturers from Tesla to SAIC-GM-Wuling, which makes the Hongguang Mini, have passed higher costs on to consumers with price increases for EVs.

从特斯拉到生产宏光Mini的上汽通用五菱等汽车制造商已经通过电动汽车涨价将增加成本转嫁给了消费者。

More may be coming. Andy Palmer, chairman of Slovak EV battery maker⁷ InoBat, said "rising costs will have to be passed onto carmakers."

可能还会有更多。斯洛伐克电动汽车电池制造商InoBat董事长安迪·帕尔默表示：“不断上升的成本将不得不转嫁给汽车制造商。”

But EV shoppers have so far not slowed down. Worldwide EV sales in the first quarter jumped nearly 120 percent, said the website EV-volumes.com.

但是迄今为止，电动汽车买家并未放慢脚步。EV-volumes.com网站表示，第一季度全球电动车销量增加了近120%。

Venkat Srinivasan is director of the Center for Collaborative Energy Storage Science at the U.S. government's Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago. He said "more and more people" would buy EVs "notwithstanding the cost of the battery and the vehicle."

Venkat Srinivasan是美国政府位于芝加哥的阿贡国家实验室合作储能科学中心主任。他说，“尽管电池和车辆的成本很高，越来越多人会购买电动汽车。

This increase in battery costs could be an unusual short-term change in a situation in which improving technology and growing production have pushed costs down for almost 30 years. Industry data showed that the $105 per kilowatt hour average cost in 2021 was down nearly 99 percent from over $7,500 in 1991.

近30年来技术进步和产量提高让成本有所下降，电池成本的上涨可能是一个异常的短期变化。行业数据显示，2021年每千瓦时105美元的平均价格比1992年的7500多美元下降了近99%。

Experts say battery costs could stay high for the next year or so, but then another large drop is likely as big investments by automakers and suppliers change the balance from shortage to surplus.

专家表示，电池成本可能会在未来一年左右保持高位，但是随着汽车制造商和供应商的大力投资将平衡从短缺变成过剩，电池成本随后可能会再次大幅下降。

"It's like a bubble -- and for that bubble to settle down, it's going to be at least the end of 2023," said Prabhakar Patil, a former LG Chem executive.

LG化学前高管普拉巴卡尔·帕蒂尔表示：“这就像一个泡沫，要让泡沫破裂，至少要到2023年底。”

The industry has long been awaiting the battery cell cost of $100 per kilowatt-hour, as a signal EVs were reaching a similar cost to fossil-fuel vehicles. But with gasoline prices high and consumer preferences changing, such cost considerations may no longer matter as much, experts say.

该行业长期以来一直在等待着100美元每千瓦时的电池成本，因为这是电动汽车达到和燃油汽车成本接近的标志。但是专家表示，随着汽油价格高企，和消费者偏好的变化，这种成本考虑可能不再那么重要。

EV demand in China and other markets "is going up faster than people thought -- faster than the supply of materials" for EV batteries, said Stan Whittingham, a co-inventor of lithium-ion batteries and a 2019 Nobel laureate.

锂离子电池的共同发明者以及2019 年诺贝尔奖获得者斯坦·惠廷厄姆表示，中国和其它市场对电动汽车需求的增长速度比人们想象的要快，比电动汽车电池材料供应还要快。

Concern about the environment and the climate also has led buyers, especially younger ones, to choose EVs over those that burn fossil fuels, said Chris Burns, chief executive of Novonix, a Halifax-based battery materials supplier.

总部位于哈利法克斯的电池材料供应商Novonix的首席执行官克里斯伯恩斯表示，对环境和气候的担忧，也促使买家，尤其是年轻买家选择电动汽车而不是燃油汽车。

"Many younger people entering the market are making buying decisions beyond simple economics and are saying they will only drive an EV because they are better for the planet," Burns says. They are making such a decision "even though it would be cheaper" to drive a gas-powered car.

伯恩斯表示：“许多进入市场的年轻人正在做出超越简单经济的购买决定，并表示他们只买电动车，因为它们对地球有利。”他们正在做出这样的决定，“即使驾驶燃油车会更实惠。”