Ask the EcoGeek: Can I Have My EV Now?
Dear EcoGeek,
Who killed the electric car? Seriously, why can’t I buy one yet and when will I be able to?
Alan Carney
Dallas, Texas
Hey Alan, Much love to the people who made Who Killed the Electric Car?
The reason major auto companies aren’t making electric vehicles look like this. First, Americans were looking for SUVs, not ultralights. Second, the technology was primitive, the biggest problem being that batteries could only take cars a hundred miles before they needed to spend hours at a charging station. Third, major car companies were too foolish to see that, in the next decade, electric cars could quickly become technologically viable and extremely appealing, so the abandoned their projects completely.
And now, here we are. Electric cars are technologically viable and extremely appealing. But no one’s done the kind of development necessary to introduce a pure electric vehicle to the mass consumer market. But it will happen. It’s just probably going to happen intermittently, by solving all three of the above problems in different ways.
Drivers will have to get used to smaller, lighter, sportier, more aerodynamic vehicles. It’s already starting to happen, and the new Prius body, most folks agree, is a very nice looking car.
Technology to make EVs more viable are being developed constantly. Ten minute recharge times, higher capacities and energy densities, and safer and more environmentally friendly components are all on the way, if not already proven. Of course, there’s a difference between a battery working in the lab, and being able to get it into a car for less than $30,000.
The short answer, for you, is that you can buy an electric car now. But you’ll either have to pay a premium for a Tesla or a Phoenix model (both companies have battery packs that cost more than Honda Civic) or you’ll have to go small, with NICE Cars or the Smart Fortwo. Or you can head to EVFinder, and search through listings for quite a lot of new and used electric vehicles.
But if you wait for mainstream manufacturers to catch on, it might be a while. Plug-in hybrids will soon (though no one has any concrete dates planned) offer an intermittent step which will allow for at least some emissions-free driving. We should see a Prius plug-in and possibly a plug-in from Saturn before 2010. And plug-in series hybrids (which always use the electric engine, but use a gasoline engine to charge the batteries (not to spin the wheels)) will offer another step toward full EVs.
But we’re going to have to wait for the ultra-expensive, high capacity, quick charging batteries to start getting way cheaper before we see any major car company embracing electric vehicles. Because if the EV1 hit the streets again…chances are, we still wouldn’t be able to get it off life support.
Ask the EcoGeek is a syndicated column provided by EcoGeek.org. If you want to ask a question, send it to Hank through our submission form.
Tags: Automobiles, Big Business, electric car, ev, ev1, phoenix, Science and Tech, tesla, Transportation
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:44 pm
The electric cars coming from Tesla and others are expensive mostly because they are built in such small quantities. Even the Ford Focus would cost $100,000 if they only built 100 (or less) at a time.
What is needed are govt. incentives to get them going until the volumes get high enough for economies of scale to take over. Tesla has a smart plan. After the roadster, they’ll come out with a high end sedan, at a lower, (though still high) price, produced at 10 times the volume of the roadster. Then a more mid-range sedan, at even lower price, at 10 times the volume of the first sedan. I see no reason this won’t work, especially if gas prices continue to climb.
August 4th, 2007 at 4:01 am
The cars coming from Tesla are expensive because of $30,000 battery packs that will only last a few years (think of your laptop battery). $30,000 added on to their cost when you buy. And repeated every few years. $100,000 is just the cost to get in the door.
August 4th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
The cost of the battery pack at today’s Li-ion cell prices is somewhere around $20,000, not $30,000. Based on the price trends of Li-ion cells, Tesla estimated that the replacement cost after five years should be about $12,000.
The batteries degrade gradually with time and use. How long they last will depend on how much degradation of range and power you, as a driver, are willing to accept. Tesla have rated them for five years, which should be about the minimum service life — but it’s possible to stretch them further.
By that time the battery chemistry should be improved, and the capacity and life span of the replacement batteries should be much better. It’s possible that the first replacement set might be the last set the car ever needs.
If you look at the big picture, this obviously isn’t ready for the masses yet. The batteries cost too much, don’t last long enough. However, if you look at where all this is leading. . . Even a “worn out” battery in a Tesla will take it further than a brand new EV1 was able to go. Battery chemistries are being studied now which should extend the service life hugely, and getting the price down is really more of a manufacturing problem than a R&D problem. So yeah, I’m optimistic that electric cars (and PHEVs) will start making inroads into the market within the next 5 years or so.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I hate to rain on your parade, but was there any analysis
done on raw materials for batteries. Will we run out of Lithium or Nickel if EVs are mass produced?