Hidden EV Costs - "Fuel for thought"

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Another “Fuel for thought”.

A few days ago, we were discussing some of the “hidden” costs of Electric vehicles and Plug In Hybrids. One of those costs is the battery pack. It will likely need to be replaced during the vehicles lifetime. And, they are not cheap. Below is just a snippet of information about the costs of two vehicles. One, and EV – The Tesla, the other a series Plug-in – The Chevy Volt. There is much more to this discussion, but, this will get it started. Now, talk amongst yourselves…

The Tesla battery pack is claimed to last UP TO 100,000 miles, or seven years. After that it needs replacement. Although actual figures are hard to come by, last year the CEO, Elon Musk stated the replacement would cost $36,000. As noted below, they are offering it for $12,000 if you purchase a " Tesla battery replacement future". On their web site, they also note this life is an "optimum" figure. Many factors such as high temperatures, excessive charge, or charge cycles, etc, can reduce the life of the pack.

http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2009/02/tesla-battery-pack-replacement-would-be-36000-today-musk-says.html

Going with the lower price this works out to 12 cents/mile. Another way to look at it is $142.00 a month.
To be fair, assembling the Tesla battery pack is labor intensive, which ups the price considerably. It would appear the $12,000 future price is where Tesla expects the price point to be in 6-7 years.

You save the maintenance costs of the engine (oil changes, tune ups), but there is still routine maintenance, tires, brakes, etc. Tesla recommends service every 12 months or 12,000 miles.

The Chevy Volt is a Plug-In series Hybrid. The battery pack is 1/4 the size of the Tesla's. And, of course the range is much shorter (40 miles), with gasoline providing the remaining driving.. Concrete numbers are still hard to obtain as to cost. Chevy announced it is considering a leasing program for the battery pack a while back. There is now considerable debate whether they will move forward with that, and no prices I can find.

I have found numerous references to a price in the $10,000 range. This article linked here predicts a replacement cost of $6,100. Chevy EXPECTS the pack to last 10 years or 140,000 miles - time will tell.
Still, the figures are a little better for it.

http://www.chevyvolt.us/

With GM's life figures, this works out to 04 cents per mile, or $50.00 per month. I personally do not believe the battery pack will last anywhere near that long. Some others do, some others don't.

The maintenance costs on the Volt will certainly be close to any other car. There is still the IC engine to maintain, as well as routine items like Tires & Brakes.