The Shocking Price Of Electric Cars
It's not that electric cars don't work -- they're just so expensive they aren't workable as mass market consumer products.
GM stopped making its EV1 battery-powered coupe because even with subsidies, the retail cost per car was comparable to what you'd pay for something like a BMW 330i luxury-sport sedan. And rather than a powerful, fun-to-drive BMW, your $30,000-something would get you a minimalist two-seater with a range of about 100 miles under absolutely ideal conditions that needed several hours (or longer) to recharge itself.
A modern 250 cc motorcycle is faster, runs longer and costs less than $5,000 brand-new. A decent late-model econobox that gets 35-40 mpg costs less than $15,000.
Not surprisingly, GM gave up and stopped building its electric car - as did all the other big-league automakers.
But for the dedicated -- and deep-pocketed -- electric cars are still available. For example, if you have $108,000 laying around, you could order the Hammacher Schlemmer electric car, straight from the company's latest catalog (for "personalized service,"call 1-800-227-3528 and ask for item number CP-10954).
Unlike the slow-pokey EV1, this one's actually pretty quick - capable of zipping from zero to 60 mph in 4 seconds, according to the brochure. That's within a few tenths of the rear bumper of a new Corvette. The car tops out at 120 mph - all courtesy of more than 1,000 pounds of batteries and DC electric motors under its floor. And because it's only 39 inches wide - about the same as most motorcycles - it can "lane split" like a bike, too (in states where that's allowed).
Driver and passenger sit front-to-back, not side-by-side. The slimline arrangement also makes the car a snap to park.
There's just that $108k price to deal with...
Maybe this is just a rich man's plaything. But the Hammacher Schlemmer electric car gives us an idea of the real-world (i.e., non-subsidized) cost of going gas-less. The Tesla electric sports car (based on the current Lotus) is also a six-figure machine.
It's beautiful, it's fast... but $100k?
Even mass-produced - and even assuming a world of $4 per gallon fuel - it will be a challenge to design and produce an electric vehicle that's cost-competitive with an equivalent gas-powered car. (Or gas-electric hybrid.)
Saving the planet - and saying good-bye to OPEC and fractious Middle Eastern politics - will not be a cheap date.
Unless, of course, someone invents a low-cost/high-energy battery pack. The Hammacher Schlemmer car (and most electric cars) still use 100-year-old technology lead-acid batteries. They are relatively cheap to make - compared with the current alternatives, anyhow - but don't pack much of a punch beyond short-term bursts. This is why a battery is great for starting your car's gas engine - but not so good for keeping it running. The Hammacher Schlemmer runabout, for example, has a best case range of 40-80 miles, depending on conditions. That means if it's cold outside (electric batteries suffer as the temperature drops) or if you hammer it, your "real world range" will probably be less than 50 miles.
Three gallons of unleaded will get you that far - even in a "gas pig" that only returns about 15 mpg. Even at $5 per gallon, it's clear which alternative makes the most sense - economically speaking, anyhow.
And environmentalist critics have pointed out that lead acid batteries are made of two very environmentally unpleasant things - lead and acid. The disposal/hazardous materials issues that would come up if 1,000 pound lead-acid battery packs were ever mass produced are another real obstacle to the practical - and planet-friendly -- electric car.
What we really need is an inexpensive, non-noxious source of electricity. But in the US, we get our jolts and volts primarily from coal-fired and nuclear generating plants. Nuclear power generation gives a lot us the willies - despite all kinds of precautions and a safety record many times better than coal - so we've put the kibosh on new construction. The coal-fed plants, meanwhile, may not be radioactive - but they do spew the majority of the bad stuff that creates air quality problems (including "greenhouse" gasses). More electrical demand means more belching smokestacks.
This is why critics have dismissed so-called "zero emissions" electric cars as "elsewhere emissions" cars.
Back to square one.
Unless you happen to have an extra hundred grand burning a hole in your pocket.
