electric cars face rising battery lithium nickel cobalt costs

BEIJING — Growing demand for electric car batteries will cause prices of the main materials to surge, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a March 18 note.

That in turn will drive prices of batteries higher by about 18%, affecting the total profit of electric car makers since the battery accounts for about 20% to 40% of the vehicle cost, the Goldman analysts said.

While the report didn’t give specific price targets for the commodities, the analysts’ model predicted a…