Comments on: Will High Gas Prices Jolt Electric Cars?

By: Randy Rieland

Randy Rieland — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 18:10:41 +0000

Here’s a bit more info on the cost and impact of charging EVs: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=electric-cars-cost-per-charge

Also: http://theenergycollective.com/glenestill/42858/electric-cars-strain-grid-think-again

By: Wilson

Wilson — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:22:34 +0000

It makes zero sense. Big screen TVs and home air conditioning reportedly cause black-outs, brown-outs, pollution, acid rain, etc. For goodness sake, be sure to upgrade your windows and wrap insulation around your hot water heater! Yet, we jump with joy to plug in automobiles?

How many amp hours of electricity will a car suck up after a day of driving up and down hills at 60 mph? No sense at all.

By: Wayne Brown

Wayne Brown — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:29:24 +0000

If the president would offer to buy American made plug in hybrids as replacements for US government fleets (think of how many cars the government owns!) many thousands of American jobs would be created, the price of a new PIH would come down for all of us, as well as lowering the amount of oil we import.

By: RS

RS — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 01:09:12 +0000

An electric car costs about 20,000 MORE than its 40 MPG non-electric equivalent.

Let’s assume money at 4%. The first year’s interest is $1000.

12000 miles per year driven, so that’s $1500/yr in gas at $5/gallon So the electric car “saved” you $500, so take that off the $20000 in capital you borrowed or didn’t invest. Repeat for 9 more years, the life of the battery.

At the end of an electric car’s battery’s life, there will be approximately $13,000 of the initial capital investment which is NOT paid back, even assuming someone GIVES you free power for charging.

So, NO, gas prices need to be MUCH MUCH higher for an electric car to even come close to breaking even, much less having a return on investment.

By: Randy Rieland

Randy Rieland — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:35:06 +0000

Thanks, Tom, for sharing that. It’s definitely a big hurdle for people living in condos and apartments.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:19:32 +0000

You missed one story – condo owners and apartment dwellers will have a difficult time charging up at home. Look what happened to this Volt owner in Canada.

http://www.driving.ca/research-car/news/When+meets+1970s+condo/6074183/story.html

No plug-in hybrid or electric car for you!