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Battery powered cars will soon be cheaper to buy than conventional gasoline ones, offering immediate savings to drivers, new research shows.
Automakers from Renault SA to Tesla Inc. have long touted the cheaper fuel and running costs of electric cars that helps to displace the higher upfront prices that drivers pay when they buy the zero-emission vehicles.
Now research from Bloomberg New Energy Finance indicates that falling battery costs will mean electric vehicles will also be cheaper to buy in the U.S. and Europe as soon as 2025. Batteries currently account for about half the cost of EVs, and their prices will fall by about 77% between 2016 and 2030, the London-based researcher said.
"On an upfront basis, these things will start to get cheaper and people will start to adopt them more as price parity gets closer," said Colin McKerracher, analyst at the London-based researcher. "After that it gets even more compelling."
The secret is in the battery.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday June 01 2017, @06:20PM (6 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01 2017, @07:59PM (4 children)
Battery capacity and recharging time and charging availability. Right now most electric car owners tend to have houses with garages to park and charge them in, the wealthier ones may even have solar panels on their house. When every apartment dweller has reliable access to charging stations in their complex parking lot or along the street where they have to park on is when you'll see an uptick in adoption.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01 2017, @11:38PM (3 children)
This right here.... I recently had to rent an apartment and sell my house. If there is one recurring theme apartment owners are *CHEAP ASSES*. "Why does the mail box not have a place to send outgoing mail? Oh it cost too much but there is a place a half mile away you can mail things". "why do I have to carry my garbage across the complex to throw it away when you have recycle areas all over the place?" "The trash company charged us too much to pick it up and the city picks up the recycling for free". FML. If anyone thinks these same people will be popping down 220V or 440V charging ports everywhere, they are dreaming.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Friday June 02 2017, @12:18AM (2 children)
Dreaming of a swipe slot for a credit card, that is. Turn those charging ports into vending profit centers and those stingy apartment landlords will put them everywhere.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tftp on Friday June 02 2017, @04:25AM (1 child)
I live in one of more expensive rental apartments - they have several buildings, about 120 apartments per building, parking in the basement (one spot per apartment, more outdoors if you have several cars.) Excellent location. Overall, very nice place.
Just a month or so ago they installed one (1) Level 2 charger (240V, 30A) in each garage. One 8-hour charger for 100+ cars. Is that a joke, or what? Who is going to depend on that one charger?
One of my neighbors used to have a BMW i3 EV [caranddriver.com], but now it's gone - I don't see it anywhere. First it was parked in the garage, then moved to the street, and now disappeared entirely. I suspect that they sold the car. I have no clue where one could charge it - maybe they had a charger at work? Long story short, there is not a single EV in the garage today. For some reason, most people are practical creatures.
About the credit card - yes, NATURALLY, the charger in the basement has a credit card slot! What else could one expect? Today I checked, and the current price is $1.25 per hour of connection (no matter if the car is drawing the current or done charging.) As this is a Level 2 charger, the charging takes 7-8 hours. Even if I wake up at 5am, go to the garage and pull the plug, this daily exercise will cost me $300 per month (depending on range - but batteries self-discharge and need a daily sustenance.) I pay for gas about $30 per month. Why, given these numbers, would I want an EV to begin with? The picture may be different if you have a home, a garage, your own charger and your own deal with the utility company. But anywhere else the charger owners will rip you off - "Hey, here is a rich fool that bought a toy car! Let's take all his money!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2017, @04:15PM
I am an electrical engineer. The material cost of a car charger hookup is the same as a electric dryer hookup. Your housing board is fleecing the users of the hookup. Just go to amazon and you can by one today for a few hundred bucks including fancy cables. Most cars already include cables so cheaper hookups are even possible. The key is to have one installed to just reach your assigned parking spot. To avoid someone steeling your electricity you turn the juice on from your apartment - with the line auto-powering off when it is disconnected from your car. Contrary to opinions on this board, the infrastructure for car charging is in place - no different then the situation where your smartphone needed a USB cable to plug into your computer to quickly share information.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2017, @12:46PM
Good thing we have Top Men working on it.