On 12/5/2010 3:04 PM, Vic Smith wrote:
On Sun, 05 Dec 2010 14:22:44 -0500, wrote:

On Sun, 5 Dec 2010 08:46:24 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

well electric cars are coming and at home resale time lack of capacity
could discourage buyers. its not just the volt or the telsa, its the
nissan leaf and others.theres a plug in version of the prius coming
too.

I was pretty serious about an electric car since I thought I was the
perfect candidate. I don't drive far but I drive everyday. I also have
a truck and my wife has a "trip car". Unfortunately I still could not
get the numbers to work out, even for a $10k kit conversion on my old
Honda. The biggest unrecognized problem is replacing the batteries
every 3-4 years ($1300-$1500). I was looking at a 10-12 year payback
and not really getting much better in the out years, if the power was
free. I didn't drive far enough.
If you start with $10k, add 2 sets of batteries over 10 years and
assume $3 gas against a car that gets 28 MPG (my Honda) your kit and
batteries will buy gas for 33 miles a day, 365 days a year for 10
years. I will still get an electric bill on top of that. If you say 10
kwh (about 60% of 14 golf cart batteries) that is about $1.40 a day
assuming no losses in the charger and 100% transfer of power in the
car.
I suppose the goldilocks situation is a commuter who has a 15-20 mile
commute and does not need heat or A/C. Nobody has said what the range
is with the heater on or running an A/C.

None of your battery costs apply to cars like the Prius or Volt.
The Volt battery warranty is 8 years/100,000 miles.
Prius is similar.

Hell, cars usually have that many miles on them before I buy them.
Somehow I don't think there will be many 3rd or 4th owner hybrids, not
if a refresh of the battery pack costs as much as putting a used engine
in a real car.

--
aem sends....