Posted on 09/29/2014 7:29:45 AM PDT by LogicDesigner
Electric cars aren't selling nearly as well as many predicted. Why is that?
Research suggests a host of reasons—including a basic lack of familiarity, a high price tag, misconceptions about the cars—and ineffective government incentives.
Consider the lack of familiarity. In a survey by researchers from Indiana University and the University of Kansas, respondents couldn't correctly answer basic factual questions about plug-in electric vehicles more than 60% of the time. Some 75% of wrong answers underestimated the beneficial aspects of the vehicles.
The survey, the most exhaustive on consumer perceptions of electric cars in recent years, was published in the journal Energy Policy last year, and was based on field work conducted in several U.S. cities in 2011.
Key Differences
Many respondents didn't realize that all-electric cars require less maintenance than gasoline-powered cars. Oil changes aren't necessary, for example, and there are fewer breakable parts. The study also found that people often underestimated the fuel savings electric cars offer.
"The lack of accurate information about electric vehicles certainly [has] contributed to their small adoption," says Rachel Krause, an assistant professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at the University of Kansas, and a co-author of the study.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Notice where the electricity comes from?
This are NOT road trip cars...they are commuters where you plug them in every night. Thus 25 miles to work, 25 miles return...stop and get milk & run errands. Plug in after work.
Repeat.
Not a fan boy of electric cars, just saying 60 miles is fine for an average commuter car in an urban/suburban setting.
The expense of electronic cars is on the back end at battery replacement time. At 50k miles there isn’t much telling how much is left and someone is buying a car over half used up.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/boblutz/2012/09/10/the-real-story-on-gms-volt-costs/
Also, the $35k is before the subsidy. It is $27.5k after the subsidy and even less after state subsidies ranging from $1k to $6k. Here in Texas I can get a new Volt for $25k.
Where to start unraveling the propaganda imbedded in this article?
1. The term "good" most nearly means excellent. Anything less than good and the mileage suffers tremendously.
2. 60-110 mile range? Why such a disparity? Air conditioning? Heater? Radio? Disc player? Defroster? Stop and go traffic? Headlights? Turn signals? Extra people on board?
3. Time to recharge.. Does anyone think that after you've depleted your battery charge by 70% getting to work on a Midwest winter day, you will have a sufficient charge, after being plugged in 8 hours, to get home?
4. With a reciprocating engine, I know its range regardless of the driving conditions. I can turn on all electrical devices in this vehicle and still accurately predict my range. If my fuel is low, I can refuel in a matter of minutes to full level and resume my travel on a renewed range of over 300 miles.
5. How am I under educated on this simple subject?
how many miles on a charge?
How long to full charge?
top speed?
vehicle cost?
can you just plug it into the wall to charge up?
The reason I’m asking you instead of looking it up is I find real life users to be more, well, truthful.
How much money do you save when you also have to buy, maintain, and insure a gas car for those times when the battery car won’t do the job?
Running out of juice in the middle of nowhere anxiety?
“including a basic lack of familiarity, a high price tag, misconceptions about the cars—and ineffective government incentives.”
I guess the product itself couldn’t be the problem.
Range.
The big problem with that is battery replacement. For my car at 25 MPG so I would spend $14,000 in gas ($3.50/gallon) for 100,000 miles. Electricity would be less, but at around that point I would expect a very expensive battery replacement which would chew up most or all of my gasoline savings. Even adding some other maintenance costs like oil, coolant and transmission fluid changes I wouldn't have in the electric car wouldn't balance that.
Tell me I can run the batteries for 250,000 miles so realistically won't have to replace them in the useful life of the car and I'll admit it is cheaper to run it.
High price tag is a good one.
"Lack of familiarity" and "misconceptions" -- in other words, average Americans are too stupid to see all the wonderful benefits of driving an electric car. Elitism at its best.
"Ineffective government incentives" is a joke -- they never work to get people to buy something that is a POS to begin with.
You’re forgetting how good the buyers/drivers of these vehicles feel about themselves. Self esteem ya know. Wondering about the tesla plant coming soon to a neighborhood near me. I’m sure SOMEBODY looked in to the hazardous materials and their disposal. Right?
Hey, I'd much rather we power our cars on American made nuclear, natural gas, coal, hydro, etc. and not have to worry about the geopolitics of oil. The EV tax subsidies come out to roughly $600 million a year yet no one seems to bat an eye at the $50 billion a year our navy spends policing oil traffic and all the other geopolitical entanglements oil causes.
Electric cars are too fugly unless they are a Tesla...then they are too expensive. Call me when I can buy a Tesla for under 20 grand.
In the meantime, I’ll keep driving the my old General Lee sans the Confederate flag for the sake of social tranquillity and not offending the black folks.
Speaking of which, I haven’t seen too many electrics cars down in the ghetto. They be getting them free Obama electric cars next I’m sure.
Thanks for the updated figures on the lower costs for a VOLT.
How much does that less costly $25K Volt cost taxpayers in subsidies?
The fact that batteries don’t do well in freezing weather conditions and vehicles use more power to get through snow.
Big reasons not to own an electric vehicle in the northern U.S.
The answer is simple: not enough range per charge. As soon as a vehicle the size of a Nissan Leaf with a resonably small battery pack can go 350 kilometers (217 miles) per charge, then it may become viable as a commuter car replacement.
Do you think we would get rid of our Navy if we only used electric cars?
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