Looking for an EV? Your pocket won’t like it: Auto makers have been hiking prices on EVs in the past few months due to a surge in battery-material expenses, The Wall Street Journal reported. Several manufacturers, including General Motors, Tesla, Ford, Motor Co, Rivian Automotive and Lucid Group have raised prices on select EVs. Overall, the average price of a vehicle in the US jumped 22% y-o-y in May to around USD 54k, according to J.D. Power. Meanwhile, regular fossil fuel cars have only 14% y-o-y to around USD 44k.

This comes despite investments by the industry in EV development doubling since 2020. Around USD 526 bn are expected to be spent by auto makers towards the transition to EVs until 2026, consulting firm AlixPartners told WSJ.

Blame it on commodities price inflation: The sticker shock comes as companies attempt to offset the growing cost of raw materials for their vehicle. Lithium, nickel and cobalt prices have nearly doubled since before the pandemic hit, AlixPartners said.

But auto makers aren’t worried about the impact of sticker prices on consumers, arguing that demand for models introduced to the market has been stronger than previously forecast by the companies. “The demand for EVs right now is extremely robust at Ford. So we have the [chance], we believe, for pricing,” Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley told analysts in April.

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SURVEY- EMs are better than developed countries at saving: Conventional wisdom had it that staying locked at home would help people lower their spending. The reality shows that more than half of consumers didn’t build up their savings during the pandemic, found a YouGov survey that was shared exclusively with Bloomberg. The survey looked at 20k adults in 18 countries with 51% of survey takers saying they did not build up their savings. One interesting finding we found was that emerging economies saved up better during the pandemic.

Emerging markets were much smarter about saving: Indonesia, was the country whose citizens topped up their savings the most, with 64% of those surveyed found to have saved up. Singapore, India and China were among the top five countries that built up their savings on average, at an average of 54-58%.

Same can’t be said for developed economies: In a shocker, Germany (with its reputation for prudent spending) saved the least during the pandemic, with only 39% of survey takers reporting a rise in net savings. Italy, UAE, Canada and Poland rounded up the top 5 worst savers, with a combined 40-43%.

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Rwanda will soon start producing mRNA covid-19 vaccines for Africa after the country commenced construction of a vaccine manufacturing facility in cooperation with Germany’s BioNTech last week, according to the East African. The facility is expected to produce 50 mn covid-19 vaccines annually, with the first doses to hit the market next year, while also manufacturing other meds in a separate “BioNTainer” — BioNTech’s modular container prototypes.

Egypt is also on course to begin manufacturing mRNA vaccines: Egypt was chosen along with five other African countries to receive the technology to produce mRNA covid-19 vaccines under a World Health Organization vaccine hub initiative, which aims to “support manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries to produce their own vaccines.” However, Rwanda might get to it first as mRNA vaccines are unlikely to begin rolling off of Egypt’s production lines “until at least 2024.”