The cost of battery cells used for electric vehicles has fallen to an average of $110/kWh, making such cars competitive with those using internal combustion engines (ICE), according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI). One barrier to a higher take up of electric vehicles has been the high cost of producing the lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, which according to BMI averaged $120/kWh last year and $280/kWh in 2014.