How Viable are Electric Cars?

I made a discovery, the other day, that Tesla isn't the only producer of 100% electric vehicles. Yes, I'm slow off the mark! So, as I discover that there are electric cars which might actually start to be within the budget of the more average worker, I started looking into just how viable this could become.

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Two considerations come to mind; firstly, how affordable can electric cars be and secondly, are they really that much less polluting than internal combustion engine cars?

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Initial purchase price depends on the manufacturer and up until this year the lowest price for Australia was around the $50,000 mark. However, this year the Hyundai Kona is available for between about $25,000-$43,500. It seems we're reaching a point where they are being purchased enough to start bringing them into more accessible price ranges. It's probably still a bit early to know how the second hand market will go and with that comes the question of how long will the batteries last and what are the replacement costs?

Different manufacturers offer different warranties which look like they should be able to be passed onto later owners if sold on. The common lengths of warranty are 5 and 8 years. At face value this doesn't look great, especially as cars are kept for an average of 10 years before being replaced. At the bottom end, many people can only afford to buy cars which are even older than that. The price of a new battery isn't incredibly excessive, $2000-$3000, however, the installation of said battery could cost in the region of $11,000! This doesn't bode well for the resale value if the new owner is potentially looking at that sort of cost when the battery dies.

On the positive side, the information coming in so far is that the battery life is looking good. A Nissan Leaf car in the south of England which was being used as a taxi had clocked 160,000km (100,000 miles) and the battery hasn't lost a single bar of battery life. Numbers weren't given, but that means that it was at least at 85% or higher. So good news, but it's still too early to gauge how long batteries are likely to last on average in reality and how this will affect the second hand market.

Battery life is also dependant on charging methods and temperature. Over charging can overheat and reduce battery life. Running it in cold weather will be less efficient than in warm weather. So what about running it in very hot weather; could this also cause overheating? It's something to think about when you live in a country with scorching summers.

Other positives financially are on the maintenance side as there are less moving parts, so less to go wrong and less servicing needed. Running costs in recharging versus filing with fuel will really depend on electricity costs. On average, it seems to work out less than petrol and even diesel, but not much less, if you're paying an energy provider. I live in South Australia, however, and our electric prices are the highest in the country, if not the world, so it's not looking promising for savings here.

The idea of the electric car isn't really about saving money, however, is it? Many of those who have them say they'll never go back to a conventional car. It's smoother, cleaner and apparently an all round nicer car to drive. Its certainly less polluting of the air in the cities. How much less polluting the recharges are depends on whether the power is coming from renewable sources or not. In the future, hopefully all our energy will become renewable and this won't be an issue.

What is an issue is the carbon footprint of making electric cars and the potential pollution the batteries in them can cause. The fact is, that the energy needed to make one is much higher than in the production of a conventional car. As you would expect, it's mostly the production of the battery which causes this. If the battery lasts long enough, then this does balance out and should even better the carbon footprint of a conventional car. This is dependant on the length of the battery life and if you replace the battery the you could be back at square one.

Then there's the concern about what happens with a potentially polluting battery at the end of its life. This article mentions:

At a number of universities, scientists are developing ways to recycle reuse electric vehicle batteries - for industrial processes, for instance. The longer the battery can be used after the life of the vehicle, the lower that vehicle's environmental impact will be over its lifespan.

Does this mean that they can't be refurbished to go back into use in EVs again? It's all very well to be finding other uses for them, but eventually there's going to be a continual supply if they replace the current amount of cars we have on the road. Then what happens when their use is finished after their second use? Ideally, we want a loop which feeds back, not a chain which leaves disposal at the end. Currently many of the the components going into the batteries are mined, which means they're not infinite. So if we continue along this path, then we reach the same situation that we're in today with fossil fuels. History repeating.

An ideal electric car would have solar built into the roof for charging while out and about, but it's not likely to happen, because how would others be able to make money from your car ownership if they did that?

Electric cars are probably going to be an inevitability; after all, fossil fuels aren't going to last forever, so alternatives need to happen. I'm confident that progress and improvements will be made with regards the batteries and would hope that this will come in before they completely replace conventional cars. However, I'm also very aware that there will likely be resistance to making the batteries last too long or be too efficient, because companies want to make money.

Any progress in the right direction is good progress, but I don't think I'm ready to support the electric car market just yet. More progress still needs to be made.

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