Electric Cars: More Expensive Than They Seem

It’s fascinating, this concept of an automobile that needs no gasoline, that requires only to be plugged in at the end of each day. It sounds low-maintenance and inexpensive; it sounds environmentally friendly and “green”; it sounds so simplistic that anyone could take care of such a vehicle.

One of the primary reasons people dislike electric vehicles, however, is that a fully charged battery typically will not allow an owner to drive more than a few miles, forty or fifty seeming the average. This isn’t exactly convenient for someone commuting to work from a rural area or seeking the adventure of a lifetime by driving cross-country. Yet other reasons have included the lack of charging-up stations and the expensive up-front cost at a dealership.

But, is there another expense that has gone unnoticed and undisclosed by those promoting electric vehicles?

Electric vehicles are powered by batteries that are charged by plugging them in to electrical outlets. One can only assume that something as large as a vehicle would require quite a large-sized battery and a healthy dose of electricity to charge it.

Electric lawnmowers are quite small, and yet the batteries typically last one to two seasons before the battery must be replaced with a new one (and even a new battery usually requires twelve to twenty-four hours to fully charge, a charge that lasts approximately one hour). Cell phone batteries are very distant relatives of the electric car, and, yet, after about two years, newly charged cell phone batteries lose their ability to maintain a charge for a two-minute phone call. Are we in for the same problem with electric cars? Would we have an expensive vehicle in the garage that would require a new battery every couple of years to hold a charge and fully power the vehicle? Is this a “green” gimmick, a way to force the consumer into future mandatory purchases of new batteries and electrical supplies?

The battery for an electric lawnmower can range from fifty dollars to two hundred dollars, depending on the size and power of the lawnmower and the manufacturer. Cell phones are upgraded by the companies so quickly that the purchase of a battery style manufactured two years ago is usually more expensive than purchasing a new phone with a brand new style battery. Since both of these items are much less powerful than that of an automobile, one has no reasonable manner by which to estimate how much a new electric car battery would be, how quickly the manufacturers would produce a new battery style, how often the battery would need to be replaced, or if a specialized certified mechanic in electric vehicles would be required to remove or install such a battery. Considering, however, that they would be the brain of the entire vehicle, one can only imagine that they would be expensive.

The closest answers to this question that I’ve found has been at this article written by Christopher Lampton on HowStuffWorks:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/vehicles/electric-car-battery4.htm

For anyone wanting more knowledge about electric vehicles, Lampton has written an informative article, and suggests that a battery will likely last approximately 100,000 miles and cost nearly $10,000 to replace, although they were speaking of an expensive sports car.

Montana Green Power, which can be located at

http://www.montanagreenpower.com/faq/hev.php#Q10

offers another viewpoint in regard to hybrid vehicles, saying that the batteries can last up through 200,000 miles, and adding that some batteries are covered by a warranty and that the batteries are seldom replaced. Still, in a hybrid vehicle the gasoline engine is sometimes used and, more importantly, the FAQ begs a question: If a battery is expensive to replace or is simply not replaced, then are we going to be driving disposable cars? Won’t this fill the landfills and junk yards very quickly and be very expensive in many different ways?

Richard Thomas wrote an article on eHow that can be found at

http://www.ehow.com/about_4674805_batteries-have-replaced-hybrid-cars.html

and suggests a battery replacement on a hybrid will average $3000 to $6000, but should one battery should last if you own your vehicle for only a few years. But, then, would you be able to trade-in or sell an electric car with a near-dead battery without taking a loss or purchasing a new battery? This question is especially important if new style batteries won’t work in older—say two or three years—models.

At this point, it’s impossible to know how well electric cars will operate, how long the parts, including the battery, will last, what the average cost of regular maintenance will be, or how much replacement parts will cost. However, the question regarding the battery, in particular, prohibits in many the desire for an electric vehicle.