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Seems to me that the battery replacement isn't really that much of an issue. Lead acid batteries may not have many cycles but partial discharges only count for a partial cycle and for the majority of my trips it would only be a partial discharge. Then when I get home I could just plug it in with a trickle charger under the hood. I've heard of electric cars that have lead acid battery packs that will last about 3 years before needing replacing. With a 10% increase in fuel economy I believe that within the lifetime of the batteries they would pay for themselves. Taking my vehicle as an example it would yield a 5.5mpg increase and if my figuring is correct using my specific cars specs and track record I would save $14.73 per month, $176.80 per year, and $530.41 every three years if gas stayed at $3.60/gallon (cheapest it's been here in a while besides now). So unless I waste money on meaty Trojans it seems that two batteries would pay off.
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