production

In the beginning, there were a few battery manufacturers that you could go to for electric car applications.
That was a bad thing.
There was practically no competition, and the few manufacturers knew this, and so would set extremely restrictive conditions for purchasing their batteries.
Among them were,
1. We're going to take a long time. Don't hold your breath.
2. We'll need an unbreakable commitment for a large quantity ahead of time, whether you're going to need all of them or not.
3. Large minimum purchase quantities/cost.