I have a question about EVs: Are electric vehicles really much more economical than gas vehicles at today's prices?
It's certain that in 10 years, gasoline will be much more expensive than it is now, and batteries will likely be cheaper. But is it economical to buy a battery
today? Let's say that in a Leaf, you pay $16 to go 300 miles, and in my car, you pay $30 to go 300 miles. That's 10 cents per mile vs 5.3 cents per mile. If your battery will last you 200,000 miles, you've saved $9,000 over the life of the battery, but how much does a battery cost?
Taken from
The Wall Street Journal:
Quote:
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Current industry estimates say the battery pack in the all-electric Nissan Leaf compact car coming out in December costs Nissan Motor Co. about $15,600.
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Am I missing something? Nissan is paying ~$15,000 (probably after huge volume discounts) for a battery that is predicted to break even in cost if you can use it for 340,000 miles (will it last that long?), and the only tradeoffs you make are that you can't take your car more than 50 miles from home, or you'll have to wait 20 hours (from Nissan's site) for it to charge on a 115v outlet. Also, isn't the charging station for the Leaf something like $2000 by itself.
Which poses the question: is any battery bought today actually going to save you money? I can maybe see it working out in a Hybrid, if a small battery allows the use of a smaller powerplant which always runs at peak efficiency or not at all.
Seems to me it's probably much more economical to use gasoline until battery prices come down, or gas prices go up, unless I've grossly miscalculated somewhere. I'd love to do the environmentally right thing, but I can't afford it.