Separate Batteries Best for Electric Cars?

CNET: Option To Lease Battery apart from Car Will Get More Electric Vehicles on the Road, Study Says

(CNET)  This story was written by CNET's Martin LaMonica.

To get more electric vehicles on the road, consumers should have the option to essentially lease the batteries, a University of California at Berkeley study argues.

The Berkeley's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology on Monday released an analysis that found that there were environmental and economy benefits to adopting electric vehicles. But the high cost of batteries is a persistent problem that remains a barrier to buyers.

The study's author, economist Thomas Becker, argues that pay-per-mile service contracts--the rough equivalent of buying a service contract with a cell phone--and swappable batteries will hasten adoption rates. Separating the cost of the battery from the car will lower the upfront cost and battery-changing stations will give consumers more confidence that electric vehicles are reliable, he said.

Becker predicts that this sort of purchase will account for 64 percent of light vehicle sales by 2030. Calculating that electric vehicles are 10 to 13 cents per mile cheaper to own than gasoline cars, Becker forecasts that electric vehicles could account for 24 percent of the light-vehicle fleet by 2030.

The business model that Berkeley advocates is essentially what the company Better Place is pursuing. When consumers purchase an all-electric car covered in the Better Place plan, the company owns the batteries. Consumers get an electric charger at their home and access to battery-swapping stations. And consumer purchase one of a few monthly driving plans that correspond to different distances, according to Better Place

A number of governments have signed on for the initiative with the first network of home charging stations and swapping stations expected Israel in the next few years.

Although Berkeley's Becker argues that separating batteries from electric vehicles will usher in mass adoption of electric vehicles, no other companies have been formed to offer a similar service. Better Place has signed on one car manufacturer--Renault-Nissan--to make cars with batteries that can be swapped out by machines.

Still, other car company executives have said that they are exploring battery leasing options that would give consumers the ability to upgrade batteries after a few years. Electric car maker Tesla Motors plans to include a swappable battery with the Model S sedan.

Separately, Better Place on Monday released results from an Ipsos survey that Better Place commissioned which showed strong consumer interest in electric vehicles, although for different reasons.

It found that thirty percent of U.S. car buyers are interested in going electric for their next vehicle with other countries that Better Place is pursuing showing even higher levels of interest.

The study found that the top concerns for wanting to buy an electric vehicle are reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, concerns over air pollution or climate change, and concerns over terrorism.

[cbs4111]

The US Government has just issued a study that shows essentially no environmental benefits from switching from gas to electric powered vehicles. Why? It's because 75% of all electricity in the US is generated by coal or natural gas power plants. These plants emit the same pollutants that gasoline powered vehicles do. The only way to make electric cars environmentally sound is to switch most electricity production in the US to non-polluting sources such as nuclear, wind, or solar. Unfortunately, solar power is not feasible because electric cars will almost all be recharged at night after the drive home (when the sun doesn't shine). Wind is intermittent, can we really live with only being able to drive to work on mornings after a windy night? That leaves nuclear power as the only viable option for recharging electric vehicles. The only option, period.

Will the environmental lobby still push for electric cars once they find the only reliable, pollution-free way to recharge them is by nuclear power?

[mwhc1]

I'm going to drive my gas burning mess of a car forever... i even let my car idle at night in the drive way sometimes just to add to the mess we're in.

[rf35]

While the battery lease concept might be a good idea, I DO NOT like the idea of making it like a cell phone contract. I refuse to buy cell phone contracts because of the hidden fees, some of the huge. I use pay-as-you-go phones only. How about just paying for the miles used at the swapping station? I guess these companies think they need a way to make the miney up front like with gasoline. So much for the electric/hybrid being a money saving option. I still say hydrogen fuel cells are the way to go.
P.S. Anyone hear about Volkswagon (I think) coming out with a hydrogen combustion engine?

[whitemale08]

I TOLD YOU
I TOLD YOU
I TOLD YOU

I WARNED AMERICA ON THESE CBS FORUMS BACK IN AUGUST THAT THEY WILL TURN THE CAR INTO A SUBSCRIPTION!!!

You folks never listen.

The whole Global Warmers scam is about turning life itself into a 'subscription' fee.

And when you are at the 'end-of-life' due to chronic illness or old age then you are supposed to pay taxes and fees that are directly fowarded to the bailouts of Goldman Sucks JP Morgan and British banks like Barclay's Capital and Dutch banks like UBS.

I tried to tell you folks.

THE AMERICAN SUCKER

The banksters don't want you to own anything outright, they want you to 'lease' life itself from thems so you can be their serfs.

THE AMERICAN SUCKER!

[BC Kelly]

whitemale08, is what you're talking about anything like ...

The "subscription fee" we've been paying all these years

Every time we pull into a Chevron, Shell, or Texaco ?

;-)

[jtdev1]

The sad part about this whole electric car thing is that there will again be companies out there to get every last dime you make.

The greed will drive the end cost way up.

Great, I buy a car and have to have a contract for the darn batteries...


What a joke.