﻿The Volkswagen scandal﻿ has meant that diesel propelled vehicles stand to loose market share, removing a source of platinum demand growth, resulting in prices falling. Given that diesel after-treatment systems tended to be platinum-intensive, this had raised the spectre that demand for the precious metal could decline. The price of platinum has fallen 3% in the last months to close at $910/oz in New York on Friday. "There are various barriers for an accelerated adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), suggesting that the overall share of electrified vehicles will still stand below about 22% by 2018 globally,” the BofA Merrill Lynch researchers estimated. Also the auto industry is expected to require fewer lead-based batteries at the expense of lithium batteries in the long term.
﻿The Volkswagen scandal﻿ has meant that diesel propelled vehicles stand to loose market share, removing a source of platinum demand growth, resulting in prices falling. Given that diesel after-treatment systems tended to be platinum-intensive, this had raised the spectre that demand for the precious metal could decline. The price of platinum has fallen about 22% in the last months to close at $910/oz in New York on Friday. "There are various barriers for an accelerated adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), suggesting that the overall share of electrified vehicles will still stand below 3% by 2018 globally,” the BofA Merrill Lynch researchers estimated. Also the auto industry is expected to require fewer lead-based batteries at the expense of lithium batteries in the long term.