Electric Cars--How Much Does It Cost per Charge?

[NickD 203]

What happens when you factor in the cost of the car, and maintenance? I hear those batteries are extremely expensive to replace.

one would expect as time to pass the price and quality of batteries will improve, we have all seen this happen with Battery tools which were expensive and lame in the beginning.

One model would have battery stations where while out driving around you could quickly exchange your dead battery for a charged one in the same way you do with BBQ tank.

Battery development has been going on for over 200 years now, with Chevy developing that 40 mile range electric car, which is the easy part by the way, screaming because they can't find a decent battery. In case you are interested, that rather small hybrid battery used in the Prius has a retail price of over 7,000 bucks, but Toyota has been known to give a customer a break and only charge them 3000 bucks.

Battery life deteriorates with higher temperatures, and it's capacity goes to near nothing in subzero climates, so strictly battery powered vehicles will only be in fair climate areas with very low temperature extremes.

That guy that showed those pictures of buses and trains all run off an extension cord, may also be a solution for private vehicles if you can drive good enough to keep the trolley on the wire. Or maybe we should dump all of our highways and replace those with a monorail system.

[Heracles 417]

Of course the problem with most of these rail systems is they seldom attract enough customers willing to pay even what it costs to operate them.

Everyone else is not only siting in traffic because the money was spent on this new shiny things rather than to build roads but those sitting in traffic are subsidizing each and every rider who takes a seat on these trains.

There are a some cities where these are the answer but clearly this doesn't work for most of the country.

Danny

Having used many of these transportation technologies abroad, I would rather be on them than stuck in traffic or driving down a crappy potholed, unmaintained, unmarked, unlit, narrow US road. Keep in mind as the times change more and more people are and will be moving back into metro areas. This has been happening for a long time overseas but the US has been slow to catch on. For a few decades it even went against the grain of the world (white flight), where people moved to the outer suburbs, and beyond, while the poor stayed in the cities. How long did people think this will last?

I guess at present in the US, public transport is seen as something only the poor use outside the major metro areas. Nowadays modern public transport systems overseas are not only advanced but extremely comfortable and so relaxing to use.

[Heracles 417]

That guy that showed those pictures of buses and trains all run off an extension cord, may also be a solution for private vehicles if you can drive good enough to keep the trolley on the wire. Or maybe we should dump all of our highways and replace those with a monorail system.

Not that guy, the engineer. As a start, go to Melbourne or Sydney so you can see what our engineers have created in terms of cities and transportation. Then come back and talk to me about rail and extensions cords. Maybe in Wisconsin such systems are not feasible but they certainly work well abroad. And being that they are the most livable cities in the world, sure backs my point.

Edited March 17, 2009 by Constellation

[NickD 203]

That guy that showed those pictures of buses and trains all run off an extension cord, may also be a solution for private vehicles if you can drive good enough to keep the trolley on the wire. Or maybe we should dump all of our highways and replace those with a monorail system.

Not that guy, the engineer. As a start, go to Melbourne or Sydney so you can see what our engineers have created as a cities over there. Then come back and talk to me about rail and extensions cords. Maybe in Wisconsin such systems are not feasible but they certainly work well abroad.

Yeah, move out of the city so your kids can have some grass, property values were much greater, and taxes lower, let millions do that, and make them move back to the city. China wants to move half billion people into jammed cities, and they can do it with their form of government, USA can do the same thing with lack of income to the families living out there.

Chicago had one heck of a CTA system that died going bankrupt, now they are trying to bring it back. Main source of income is gas tax from private drivers and they really have the pot holes.

[Heracles 417]

Yeah, move out of the city so your kids can have some grass, property values were much greater, and taxes lower, let millions do that, and make them move back to the city. China wants to move half billion people into jammed cities, and they can do it with their form of government, USA can do the same thing with lack of income to the families living out there.

Chicago had one heck of a CTA system that died going bankrupt, now they are trying to bring it back. Main source of income is gas tax from private drivers and they really have the pot holes.

Ehh Chicago. Nuff said. They probably swindled the money.

High speed transportation networks are the key to solving Americas dependence on oil. Yes even if this means a substantial gasoline tax. A $1 per gal usage tax, for example, would have two major benefits.

1) Greater funding to pay for the much needed repairs on the crumbling interstates and roads.

2) Less load on the road. Which means they wear out less and are also less dangerous to travel on.

Edited March 17, 2009 by Constellation