I am trying to find out how electric cars could be more desirable to own and what are peoples views on the future of electric cars?
What things would you like to see in an electric car to become desirable?
What would you use a electric car for?
E.g. commuting short distances, general use, being green…
Price
Longer Ranges, more charging stations (e.g. can charge vehicle while at work). Appealing to the eye, they need to be stylish.
Commuting, commuting commuting. Our infrastructure still has somewhat of a way to go to have a leisure vehicle. EV’s right now are are needed for a commute that’s about 50-80 miles each way.
I think being green is critical but we need to face the reality that economical pressure is what determines markets. In order to make an EV profitable it needs to be made available to the middle class and the lower middle class.
A good example: LCD monitors. When they produced in relatively lower quantities they were expensive for the lower and middle class. When they were priced for these classes now many more people have them.
I agree with chiques. PRICE is a big factor. Tell me it cost’s more to make a vehicle powered by an electric motor that has a manufacturing cost of $300.00 and is readily available retail than it does to make a vehicle powered by a V6 ICE that has a manufacturing cost of $3000.00. Yet I can buy a Toyota Camry or equivilant for $14,000.00 and have to fork out $40,000.00 for a Prius. NOTE: NO CAR I HAVE EVER PURCHASED COST MORE THAN $20,000.00. That is the limit of what I can afford PERIOD. Too bad I can’t send this message to GM, (Dear GM if you want me to buy more expensive cars tell my Boss to give me a raise). The second factor I believe has already been met, The car has to serve a purpose, I.E. get me to work at an affordable rate. This is something my econobox did well until gas prices went through the roof. It is unlikely that electric cars will compete with for example lifted 4-wheel drive trucks, but in the get me to work cheap catagory they should be sweeping the market, They just have to lower the initial price.
Just getting started in this forum, but I’m pretty sure the batteries and control systems are the big cost elements. BTW I have been working on some ideas that may indeed work not just for econobox commuting, but cross-country drivers and offroad applications as well and it should be no big challenge to hit the price points you’re talking about - I’m in the same market segment. I have run the numbers for plausibility, but just the fact that I haven’t seen much about my ideas yet suggest there are problems I have not yet recognized. So I’m mostly going to keep reading for awhile.
Well IMO there is only one real obstacle preventing EV’s to take off, and that is battery technology. For now there really needs to be a revolutionary leap in the technology to make it work. All the other tech is already in place today.
The bench mark is a battery pack that has a density of 200 wh/Kg, with a minimum 1000 Charge/Discharge cycles (3000 ideal), 10C charge rate minimum for quick charges, and internal resistance of 10 milli-ohms or less. To date nothing is close. Now with that said there are some Lithium Ion technologies like Lithium Phosphate in the works that have some promise, but still fall short of the mark. I am confident however with all the money being poured into research and development we will see a break through in the next 5 years.
Once that happens we will see EV’s and renewable power sources become a reality. The rest will fall into place like charging stations and massive nuclear power plant construction to power our motive world.