Comments on: How Plug-In Hybrid Cars Could Be Game Changers

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 06:36:27 +0000

For people wavering on whether to buy a Leaf today or wait a year, 6%/year gain in battery capacity sounds small, but multiply it out and you get 3x gain in 20 years and 10x gain in 40 years. A Leaf-like car would go from 70 mile range to 210 and then 700 miles as the decades ticked by.

It’s not clear that adoption could happen a lot faster anyway. New power plants, upgraded transmission lines, millions of garages upgraded for charging, extra battery manufacturing capacity and even increased lithium mining are all needed, and will cost a lot of money and time to get built.

By: JRP3

JRP3 — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:23:43 +0000

The author has a ridiculously long commute and then concludes that a pure EV can’t work for most people. The fact is that a 70 mile one way commute is not a sustainable way to live. The only reason people have come to accept that as a reasonable daily drive is because of a century of cheap abundant oil, which no longer exists. I agree that an EV probably can’t work for him in his present situation, but that’s a far cry from saying it can’t work for most people or that batteries need 4 time the density of current cells for EV’s to be successful. How about building a car that’s twice as efficient and gets twice the range from existing cells, such as the Solectria Sunrise which got over 200 miles in normal driving and 370 mile when hypermiling from a 26kwh pack of NiMH cells 15 years ago?
http://ephase.blogspot.com/2010/12/more-bang-for-buck.html
Even the LEAF has room for more cells as it exists without losing cargo space, the cells just need to be cheaper. Tesla’s Model S will have 300 mile range and more room than a Volt, do batteries really need to be 4 times as dense so we can have 1600 mile range? Of course not, they just need to be cheaper so you don’t have to pay $80K for a 300 mile car, and the vehicles need to be more efficient so we can go farther with fewer batteries.

By: JRP3

JRP3 — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:04:02 +0000

He has 70-100 mile one way commute. No, a bike and public transport is not a realistic option.

By: Lloyd Lofthouse

Lloyd Lofthouse — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 00:19:38 +0000

Maybe it isn’t time to buy electric yet–at last for most of us. In ten years, the technology may mature and offer better choices, When new technologies come out the gate, they usually cost more then a few years later there are more choices, which means competition, and the prices go lower.

It happened with computers and TVs.

By: Indrajeet

Indrajeet — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:27:00 +0000

The correct link is http://goo.gl/6Nhhj

By: Indrajeet

Indrajeet — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:24:46 +0000

Hi Venkat, I have been following your blog way before you joined forces with GigaOM. I am all for minimizing pollution in vehicles, (I don’t say zero pollution since that is just a myth). I like your writing style too. This morning, I ran into this piece of news which talks about swapping batteries at charging stations instead of actually charging. http://goo.gl/LCfyr

I think swapping batteries makes more sense than waiting to get them charged. The technology to swap shouldn’t be hard to figure out, and it takes far less time than charging. I do agree that this might mean standardizing batteries shape and size, but its a good trade off for convenience. I would like to hear your comments on this.

By: rick ehrlich

rick ehrlich — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:19:35 +0000

i get so tired of pontificators declaring the electric car is not worth the money. you guys never seem aware there are many brands of cheap electric cars, at least since the 1974 oil embargo. lithium batts give over 100 mile range to any lightweight car, can be way cheaper than a LEAF. can be as low as 2 cents/ mile in lightest weight e-cars.

By: Michael Thwaite

Michael Thwaite — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:59:18 +0000

We don’t, nothing, they won’t. This is what I do & don’t believe that I’m unique, as much as I’d like to think I am.

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:55:50 +0000

Why do we need our cars to be capable of the eight total long trips we’ll take during the year? What’s wrong with renting, flying or taking the train? With the money you’d save on gas alone these options should be quite affordable. You are the exception to the rule, one of the very few who may max out the Leaf (a first-gen electric car) during one day. Most people won’t have this problem and will save thousands of dollars and tons of CO2 by choosing the leaf.

By: David Martin

David Martin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:17:25 +0000

The chief saving in pure electric vehicles will come in maintenance savings due to their inherent simplicity, and down the road after folk have got used to them in their lower depreciation.
These savings are not available for hybrid vehicles, which are more, not less, complex than regular cars.
If you depreciate the battery against petrol and add on electricity cost, then break even for an EV based on this without taking into account reduced maintenance and depreciation comes with petrol at around $4.60 based on the costs for Renault’s battery lease.
To reach an equivalent for the US where leasing is not available take off around $5-7,000 from the cost to allow for it’s offset against petrol bills.
When you do come to replace the battery pack in perhaps 8 years then at the present rate of decrease you might have to pay half as much for your new pack as now.
Electric cars basically last until the bottom drops out, so you would then start saving on replacement vehicle costs.

Hybrids may be more flexible than pure battery cars, but the economics for the latter are much better, as long as the range is enough for the job.