Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragoneye
True...but it can be recycled. Plus, thanks to consumer electronics -- the infrastructure is already developed and in-place.
I don't anticipate Li-Ion batteries will survive more than 10-12 years from now. There are already more promising technologies on the horizon...but for the moment...it's just good to know (to me anyways), they can be recycled (either salvaged, or re-purposed) and won't require any infrastructure development to support it (like hydrogen......).
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Just build me a volt with the batteries in series and a KERS system so I can have 120hp with an extra 300hp on tap for 5 seconds every trip
Uber v-tak.
All joking aside, the problem is this technology just isn't being produced on a level that the price can be lowered AT ALL. When you're marketing a car that is essentially designed to save money (aren't enough tree huggers to float it), selling to the middle class just isn't going to work unless gas prices are astronomical. Don't let the "fair & balanced" media fool you, we have some of the cheapest gas prices of any modern nation. The people that really need to save money are buying used or sub-20k economy cars on low interest rates. The
majority of the target market for the volt can afford to pay a little bit more for gas and when you've got all the cool, fun cars of today, especially when some of them are getting 30+mpg on ICE's an EV just doesn't sound that appealing. It's going to take time for people to accept them and hell we may have a better solution by then. For now, the Volt is doing OK, not great, but OK. The next one will be cheaper and better and will hopefully appeal to a broader crowd. IMO Tesla's new sedan will have a hugely positive effect on the EV image. My .02.