The Electric Car "Runs Out of Juice" With Consumers

Looks like the electric car is "dead" ....again. The abject failure of auto manufacturers to produce,an AFFORDABLE,and PRACTICAL electric car, continues to be reflected in the DISMAL SALES NUMBERS of ALL MAKES and MODELS of them.

This despite millions upon millions of TAX DOLLARS GIVEN to promote them as part of the absolutely FAILED Obama "green" giveaways, to everything from failed solar/wind power companies, to the producers of electric cars:

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The Electric Car Is Dead All Over Again

Chrysler

The 2013 Fiat 500e.
The dream of an electric car that's both affordable and practical has eluded automakers, and will likely do so for another decade.
The problem is a lack of cheap, powerful battery technology that keeps ranges limited, charge times long, and prices high.

A much better battery is the "holy grail," says Jack Nerad, executive editorial director and market analyst at Kelley Blue Book. While lots of parties are working on it, "nobody's got there yet."

Until someone does, the story of the electric car in the United States will continue to be one of high expectations and consistent letdowns.

Fisker, a startup funded in part by nearly $200 million from the Department of Energy, just fired three quarters of its workforce and is in the process of imploding. It has not produced a single Atlantic, the model designed to be the "volume car that begins to build growth."

Tesla, another government-funded startup, has achieved profitability for this quarter (a major milestone), but despite unending promises that it will soon bring an affordable car to market, its prices have only gone up.

The company recently canceled plans to produce the cheapest version of its Model S sedan, and its least expensive version now starts at $62,400, with an EPA-rated range of 208 miles. The most expensive version of the sedan goes for $87,400, with a range of 265 miles. Those numbers are solid, but the price points put Tesla solidly in the realm of luxury brands.

The big automakers have gone in the other direction, opting for affordability over range. The $37,395 Honda Fit Electric, just going on sale now, promises a 123-mile range. Nissan's $28,800 Leaf gets between 75 and 84 miles. And t he upcoming Chevy Spark EV will start at a very reasonable $25,000, with an unimpressive 60-mile range.

An affordable electric car does little good if it can't go more than 100 miles, while the more practical Model S is out of the reach of the middle class.

Either way, drivers who buy an electric car today are "paying a premium to be inconvenienced," Nerad told Business Insider.

And not many people are buying them. March marked the best month ever for EV sales in the U.S., according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association , but that grand total (for plug-in hybrid EVs and pure EVs) was a measly 7,632 vehicles. Combined, electric cars and hybrids make up just 3.77 percent of the American market share.

Tesla Motors

The Tesla Model S.
Things are unlikely to get better until the batteries that power electric cars become cheaper, more powerful, and faster to charge.

That new technology is "the most critical factor," said General Motors Manager of Electrification Communications Kevin Kelly.

To get there, GM has engineers "working around the clock," he said, and progress is "happening at a pretty rapid pace."

GM has talked a lot about the future of electric, but has not delivered so far. Sales of the Chevy Volt were behind those of the Leaf, its closest competitor, and even those of the much more expensive Tesla Model S.

Asked for a timeframe on the arrival of a truly mass market EV (shooting for a 250-mile range and a $30,000 price tag), Kelly suggested "in the intermediate term." Even once the battery technology is developed, it must be tested and produced.

Car product cycles take about 30 months, Kelly noted. In the auto industry, "intermediate" means more than five years, probably closer to ten.

"I think we will see better batteries" with quicker charging times, said Nerad. "Then electric cars become very very viable." But for now, he said, "nothing is imminent."

In the meantime, automakers will continue to rely on tax credits, high gas prices, and an enthusiastic base of eco-conscious drivers with cash on hand to buy their electric cars.

There are other ways to make their cars attractive: Tesla's new financing deal, announced last week to much fanfare, is really just a shortcut to lower prices, without real innovation.

Fiat found an interesting way to ease range anxiety for drivers of the 2013 500e, which goes just 87 miles on a charge. The purchase of the car comes with 12 days of rentals from Enterprise each year, so drivers with road trips in mind can go places electric cars can't reach yet.


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/electric-car-dead-over-again-210842853.html

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None of this is "news" we have always known that "range anxiety" is a factor but 20 years ago we were saying we would never be able to use wind power as a viable energy alternative

I think in future we may still have 2 cars but instead of one being for Mum and one for Dad there may be one for the city and one for the country

 

The only way the electric vehicle could be practical nowadays with the current technology is to have a bank of batteries that can be easily lowered and replaced from under the car. The concept is simple. Like a gas station, there would be battery stations where there would be racks of these battery banks that are already charged or in the process of being charged. You pull your electric vehicle into one of these battery stations and drive your car over a battery bank replacement machine. Using lasers and markers on your battery bank it could locate the position and orientation of your battery bank under your car and it would position itself and automatically remove the old battery bank from your car and replace it with an already charged battery bank and within minutes you are on your way. The battery station would take your discharged battery bank and place it in one of its racks to be charged for the next person. So, there are always charged banks of batteries ready to be used for the next vehicle.

 

Chevy Volt solves this!

The Volt concept is the only one I am interested in.

Runs on a battery til the juice runs out, and then a gas powered generator can kick in when needed.

No range anxiety.

 

Hybrids have always been the way to go. And they went there without the government.

Enter Obama, and all his idiot supporters, and we have billions being flushed down the all-electric commode.

 

(I deleted portions just to cut down on the quote size)

All that and yet

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22915765/tesla-soars-52-week-high-after-ceo-elon

 

And wind remains a non-viable energy alternative, incapable of producing more than a modicum of current (amperage...ooops! Technical term..we can see your head spinning from here.), and electric cars are a FAILURE, AS WELL.

 

Unfortunately, a goodly portion of the "skin" Tesla has "put into the game", was taken out of the hides of American taxpayers.

It comes down to the same problem we have been trying to master for years; the room temperature super conductor, which will make virtually EVERY ALTERNATIVE ELECTRIC GENERATION TECHNOLGY a LOT MORE effective...maybe even "viable"...

 

I'll bet your grandfather was the kid in town who followed motorists down Main Street yelling, "Get a horse!"

 

Yes, and they are paying that loan back 5 years early. Sounds like a pretty decent investment to me.

Here is the problem I have with all this: Why is it so bad to invest money in something (electric cars in this case) that could save us so much in the future? I mean, the Oil Industry would have gone belly up if they hadn't gotten enough subsides to keep them afloat. If it weren't for the discovery of the Texas Oil fields, I wonder if it would have even survived. But the Gov't and Business leaders knew that oil was a commodity that was absolutely required for the future (transport especially, considering all the effort they put in to shut down the original electric cars, and the LA tram lines) and so the government helped them out. It wasn't considered socialism, it was good business filled with foresight. Tesla has that foresight, and is bringing a good return. Lets not just negative nancy the whole process, lets invest proper money to figure out how to get past the issues (one of which you correctly focused on) rather then trying to kibosh the whole thing.

 

Look it up yourself before you use it again. Hint: you don't measure a battery's storage capacity or its maximum discharge in amps.

 

THe Chevy Volt costs as much as a Mach 1 Mustang, and are prone to catching fire, when the battery discharges,and GETS HOT, which is what batteries do when over drawn.

Enjoy.

 

Guys like Gork don't believe in the future (which is why it's so easy to scare them).

All of the conservatives here look at the future through thier rear view mirror.

 

Because we have not done DUE DILIGENCE in regards to them, is why it' a BAD IDEA. Without better battery tech, they will NEVER be more than a waste of taxpayer money.

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You, as always , have NO IDEA WTF you are blathering about.

AMP/HOURS is, by far the most common unit for measuring both, especially when dealing with DEEP CYCLE batteries.

Of course, I was not even REFERRING TO BATTERIES, was I ?

I was refering to WIND POWER,and the LOW CURRENT (AMPERAGE) it produces, as it's main drawback.

Nothing funnier than Leftists pretending technical knowledge of ANYTHING.

 

Yeah...and "guys like you" don't understand ANYTHING of a technical nature, like you asinine pretense at knowledge of how deep cycle batteries are rated.

Now...hurry up and go "google" some more stuff you are completely clueless about,and come back and pretend otherwise.

It's always fun pimp-slappin' you around the board....

 

The skyrocketing cost of electric rates in many areas may prevent electric cars from being financially feasible.

 

Well considering my previous post about Tesla paying its loan back 5 years early, its very much NOT a waste as you keep saying.

Anyway, as it stands battery tech research is constantly finding new upgrades that will help. This is what I was talking about, we need to invest to do this 'due diligence' rather then trying to starve any sort of funds that might improve on the design.

Here are some examples

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/506881/how-improved-batteries-will-make-electric-vehicles-competitive/

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/508466/two-advances-point-toward-a-cheaper-electric-car-battery/

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671917/watch-2-scientists-accidentally-discover-a-world-changing-super-material

These are exactly the kinds of research that needs to be funded, so that in 10-20 years time, we can switch from oil burning engines to electric ones. Its all about looking to the future, not stagnating here in the present or being mentally stuck in a time-past era.

 

In NO WAY is the volt "prone to catching fire". This is simply absurd.

And of course the Right only cares about purchase price, never bothering their heads with the savings you would get from operation and maintenance.

And the joy of laughing at Righties sitting in lines at the gas stations in our next "gas crisis" shortage.

 

I wonder if (and a big if) Electric cars really take off, if the comparable decrease in oil usage might equalize the difference.

 

There has never been a case of a battery fire in a Volt other than under testing.

The car is doing quite well, and its owners rave about it. As do owners of the Toyota Prius (of which I am one).

There are now several million hybrid cars on the road, primarily in the US and Japan. Nearly all of them are giving excellent service.

Someone in my town is still driving a first generation Honda Insight (the sport coupe), and we have a couple of first generation Prius'. Cab drivers in New York are driving Prius' 300,000 miles on their original batteries.

This is proven everyday technology, that is used conventiently and safely by millions of people every day.

Why wingnuts continue to pretend that it's still an exotic novelty is beyond me.

The number of hybrid offerings is growing every year, and the price differential between them and conventional gasoline cars is shinking.

I can go twice as far, just as fast on half as much as my neighbor can in his SUV.

 

Unfortunate, but true...at least for now.

 

Good for you, keep on rooting for young Americans to die for your oil!

Hurray for not being energy independant, let the Saudi Wahabbist's fund the next 9-11, I mean who cares.

Boo technology that doesn't work perfect for cents on the dollar on the first try!

Conservatives, and Liberals rooting for America to fail, so their enemy gets what they deserve!

 

It needs to be funded with PRIVATE MONEY.

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Wait...you forgot to BLAME THE JOOOOZ!!!

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Bullcrap. The people quoted in the OP, are the LEADERS IN THE INDUSTRY.

And not many people are buying them. March marked the best month ever for EV sales in the U.S., according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association , but that grand total (for plug-in hybrid EVs and pure EVs) was a measly 7,632 vehicles. Combined, electric cars and hybrids make up just 3.77 percent of the American market share


It is THEY bemoaning the fate of electric cars. Duh...

Lithium batteries are a FIRE HAZARD..sorry.
Make up some more nonsense.

 

WEll, then why are so many wind farms springing up all over Europe and China?

 

Why?
(6 characters my @ss)