Li Auto CEO said that most of the EV makers that have not yet announced price increases are those whose contracts with battery suppliers have not yet been finalized, and they will also increase prices once they are.

In the past week, several car companies, including Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY, HKG: 1211), Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV, HKG: 9868), and Leapmotor, have announced price increases.

So far, Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI, HKG: 2015) and Nio (NYSE: NIO, HKG: 9866) have not announced price increases.

Those car companies that have provided reasons for the price hikes all blame the rise in raw material prices. The recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine has worsened the situation.

The 3-month nickel futures contract on the London Metal Exchange (LME) surged more than 110 percent to $101,365 a ton on March 8, due to concerns about Russian supply disruptions.

If nickel prices rise from $20,000 to $50,000 a ton, an EV equipped with a 60-kWh battery pack would face an increase in raw material costs of nickel of about RMB 10,000, said China-based brokerage firm CICC in a research note released earlier this month.

Soaring Nickel prices become new concern for EV industry