CMU study indicates the Chevy Volt may be too expensive to be effective

[wtmusic]

Electric vehicle proponents never like to hear news like this*, but another study has indicated that plug-in vehicles with longer battery ranges are going to be too expensive to be cost-effective, even though they will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The problem is that the cost of the batteries required to support a 40-mile electric-only range far outweighs the incremental benefit compared to a shorter range plug-in or non-plug hybrid. The cost of a battery pack for a car like the Chevy Volt is estimated to be as much as $15,000, although no one at General Motors is talking about the specific number publicly yet.

While there are certainly people who are willing to go plug-in regardless of the cost, the reality is that most people simply cannot afford to do so no matter how much they might like the idea of helping the environment. Beyond the up-front cost of batteries there also remains the issue of durability. Tesla Motors, for example, is offering a $12,000 battery replacement plan for the Roadster - which has a battery pack that costs around $30,000. General Motors officials have repeatedly expressed confidence that the battery management systems they have developed for the Volt will allow them to meet the 10-year/150,000-mile durability target for the battery. However, accelerated testing in the lab can only tell so much about battery life. Until these vehicles are in the field and exposed to the wide range of conditions that occur over a number of years, no one can be certain.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/02/27/cmu-study-indicates-the-chevy-volt-may-be-too-expensive-to-be-ef/#comments

*Electric vehicles again lumped together with PHEVs (the Carnegie-Mellon study doesn't even address EVs)

[ContinentalOp]

1. "Electic vehicle proponent never like to hear news like this?" I think it's the Big 3 defenders who

don't like to hear news like this. After all, the article seems to point out problems with GM's EV plans, not the concept of EVs themselves.

[wtmusic]

3. Ex-actly.

Of course the Chevy Volt is having problems - you're trying to haul around a car with the weight of two powerplants and the power of half of a good one.

[Bread and Circus]

2. Yes and plasma screen tv's that used to be $6000+ are now sub $1000...

same for big screen LCD's.

Technology like this is always wildly expensive until widely adopted.

Had big screen tv's and High Def threatened oil profits, we'd still be watching 13 channels on black and white 19" tv's.

[JohnWxy]

4. Our current economic situation (which won't be turned around that quickly) doesn't help with the

introduction of this valuable but expensive technology. You need numbers to get the cost down and this worldwide recession (depression?) will certainly slow down the adoption of plug-in electrics. (I'm worried about whether GM will even survive.)

[Greyskye]

5. They need to think outside the box

Trying to use the old car paradigms in the new world is like trying to pound a round peg into a square hole. They need to decrease the drag coefficient and reduce weight like these companies are doing:

Here are how some innovative companies are approaching the problem:

http://www.aptera.com/






www.persumobility.com

[wtmusic]

6. While some say GM is too big to fail

I'll propose that GM should fail precisely because it is so big. Supertanker, meet reef.

Does everything boil down to antitrust, or does it just seem that way?

(btw the production car with the lowest coefficient of drag - ever - was the EV1)

[Greyskye]

7. CoD

If Aptera gets into full production, they'll take that record.

EV1 = 0.195 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1#Consumer_experience

Aptera = 0.015 http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2531/69/

[wtmusic]

8. The Aptera is very cool

but legally it's not a car.

[jcg996]

9. True

And it's 0.15 Cd for the Aptera. I'll take an EV-1 with its additional 0.04 in a crash any day.

[Greyskye]

10. Oops.

Thanks for catching my slipped decimal point. :blush:

I've been really impressed with everything I've seen concerning the Aptera's crash resistance. This video from over a year ago shows the construction and crash theory. http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237853.html?page=1 The rest of the article is quite interesting as well.

[jcg996]

11. Thanks for the link.

Great stuff there that I have been trying to find for a long time (esp. a look inside the workshop).

PS: Any disappointment that the Persu people chose a parallel rather than a series hybrid? I think that Aptera is heading in the right direction on that front. You probably heard about the EV-1 series hybrid (range extender was a mini turbine genset), it had very good mileage and range claims as well.