With cars like the Chevy Volt, Fisker Karma, Tesla Model S etc. on the horizon do you believe they are destined to fail or do they have a fighting chance? Would the cost to maintain them overshadow their benefits? It’s not as though they could be taken to your local mechanic for repairs. I’ve also read that Lithium ion batteries would have to be replaced every 5 years or 100k miles. I would imagine that being quite expensive to do. I’m really hopeful for cars like these…just worried about maintenance.
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At first they will be expensive to maintain because repairs and maintenance will have to be done by the dealer but slowly over the years independent garages will start to take on the work too.
In short at first no, they will not be cost effective (In my opinion) but then the people to be buying them will be the upper class eco warriors. I would expect in 10 years or so you will see them getting into the kind of price range you would expect for a general family car.
Not yet.
All that blather about the auto industry working with oil companies to suppress efficient cars is purely bull.
The problem is batteries. You have to get real about this.
The Chevy Volt is a prime example. The battery is ‘T’ shaped, about 6 feet long and 2 or 3 feet across the top of the ‘T’. It weighs about 650 pounds. The car costs 40,000 subsidized dollars. The battery stores energy that is equivalent to that contained in ONE gallon of gasoline.
Until the problem of good batteries is resolved it is insane to believe the electric car will be a viable product for real world use.
First off by way of a response to a series hybrid batteries equal to only 1 gallon of gasoline. An internal combustion engine powered vehicle is only about 15% efficient at the wheels. So for every $100 you are putting into the gas tank you are throwing away $85.00. An all electric vehicle is around 85 to 90% efficient. This is 5 times the efficiency of an internal combustion engine vehicle. So assuming your BTU calculations were correct the energy in the batteries of a series hybrid would be equal to 5 gallons of gasoline. At which time the engine would take over to charge the batteries in the Volt.
Because of the fewer moving parts in an all electric vehicle maintenance charges would be minimal. If you never drove far enough then the internal combustion engine in a Volt would never come on. This would also reduce maintenance. Assuming that the battery pack would last 5 years, technology is moving so fast that you may have entirely different options for battery replacement than what is available now.
Like any vehicle manufactured today some of these vehicles will prove to be longer lasting, more efficient, or cheaper to operate than others. Research may help you to back a winner.
I can only speak of electric cars, because I own one. And I don’t live in the city. The battery is not large as the Chevy Volt is described.
As for repairs: my company for example [I happen to sell electric vehicles since over 1 yr now] has technicians on site and strategically placed all over the US. [Local mechanics are trained]. There are not many repairs anticipated, period. It’s not that your fuel pump can crap out on you :). Batteries have tremendously improved just over the past 8 months. And – yes, they do need to be replaced ca every 5 yrs. But with savings every year of well over 10 grand, one can afford to buy a new battery also considering a far lower initial purchase price versus Hybrids and Gasoline powered vehicles.
Plus, there are batteries in the works with a far longer lifespan, which will hit the market in ca 3 years.
I have the car [SUV] since 11 months now, drove it in snow and in heat, and have yet to experience any problems.
Many friends of mine in California drive EV’s – but California is a different story [no, I did not sell them any of mine], because in California EV’s are far longer on the streets than any other State.