I don't believe this to be a true statement. Until, they can get charging time down they are not viable, merely, feasible. The idea of changeable battery packs would require service station acres of storage space and enormous amounts of current. God forbid the government gets involved in the design of replaceable batteries.
I don't believe this to be a true statement.
Tedlas are priced between $71,000 and $101,000.
That's a lot for a battery powered car with all the limitations of the technology.
They might be considered viable to a wealthy greenie as a way to make a statement.
But to someone less well-heeled who is looking for cost effective transportation they have a long, long way to go.
Let's be honest - there probably wouldn't even be an electric car business in the USA if it wasn't for federal government pressure, subsidies, sweetheart deals and handouts.
Amen to that! I would love it if we were less dependent on oil. It would devastate some of our biggest foreign rivals like Iran and Russia and we wouldn't have to be so involved in the Middle East in the future.
“Until, they can get charging time down they are not viable, merely, feasible. The idea of changeable battery packs would require service station acres of storage space and enormous amounts of current.” —depressed in 06
“But to someone less well-heeled who is looking for cost effective transportation they have a long, long way to go.” —Iron Munro
Yea, the battery-swap idea seems like it would be really expensive to maintain. However, we can get 90% of the way there with a much cheaper solution: the Chevy Volt. Now I know it has gotten a lot of bad press but hear me out. After rebates (I know a lot of people don't like them, but they are a current reality nonetheless), here in Texas you can get a new Volt for $25,000. It allows you to go the first 40 miles every day on electricity and it also has a gasoline engine and a 340 mile gas tank if you need to go farther. Since 78% of Americans drive less than 40 miles round-trip on their daily commute,[1] most people will only use gas when they go visit grandma. Also, all the concerns about battery fires turned out to be baloney; after four years on the market, there have been a grand total of zero fires started by a Volt in the real world.