Electric cars, like Hybrids are just going to serve the same purpose. It's a toy for those with extra cash and a belief that buying new cars with batteries is good for mother Earth.
First, I don't understand the 30 mpg vs Electric comparison. What car the size of the Nissan Leaf, gets just 30 mpg? Ford Fiesta gets 40, Hyndai Sonata gets 40, Yaris gets 36, and they are all in the $15k or under range to purchase.
But even at just 30 mpg, you save roughly $800 per 15k miles, which is about a year from the average driver. So, a leaf, which has juat a 100mile range so you can ONLY use it to commute, and costs about $27k after you add the charger and deduct the federal tax credit. So, to make up that $12k difference, I'd need to drive the Leaf for 15 years before I started to save money.
Of course, Nissan says the battery is expected to retian 80% of it's batteries capacity after 5 years, and warranties it for 8 years and 100k miles...so I may need a new battery after just 5 years, especially if I drove 80 miles a day. (I drive 110, even a new Leaf wont work for me). How much does that cost? Could it be close to the $10k price difference between the leaf and its gasoline counterparts? If it's even $5k, I may never get my money's worth.
I do love the simplicity of the Electric car, but it needs to shave about 10g's off the price and double in range before it becomes even a remotely practical alternative...Oh, and come with a free charger.
