Burning fossil fuel oil in powerstations is more efficient than burning it in an engine, which is why EVs become more cost effective as oil prices increase.

Oil costs have fallen due to the economic recession – but I just checked the year-forward forecast and it’s $84. Immediately pre-slump, it was, of course, $140.

http://www.greenmotor.co.uk/2009/08/will-nissans-leaf-put-other-evs-in.html

So, Gosn is essentially saying “We have very high prices. And we make it easy for you to see just how high they are.”

Anon, pretty much has it correct. The simple fact is the industry is screwing around with Li-on because precisely because it so expensive, resource constrained and of course, is guranteed to fail no matter how careful the user is. All they want to do is replace one non-renewable, expensive fuel source with a non-renweable expensive battery thats absoutely guranteed to fail within a few years (see your laptops LI-on for more details). And to top it all off, they say, “We dont think you will trust the battery, especially since we and our oil-cartel masters have expended a great deal of energy to make sure you dont over these many decades, so in order to make sure you feel more secure, well set it up so we control a vital component of your cars propulsion system”. Please ignore the fact weve crushed or patent encumbred any of the technologies that will actually work effectively in EV’s in favour of this uproven expensive Lease the Li-on scheme we;ve put together. Thank you”.

And they could de facto force all the owners to turn back in or junk their cars if they decide to cancel the battery lease program. Or would they say, “Our battery sucks. We are getting out of the battery business. Good luck with that P.O.S. we sold you.”

Do I get to say, “the car is paid for, but I still have this $150 per month battery lease.”

And how am I going to resell one of these cars? It’s $15,000 plus a $150 per month lease for eternity. How do I tell Nissan I transfered the lease? If the car is in a accident, does the battery have to be shipped back to Nissan?

Maybe battery insurance is the way to go. I own the battery but they tack on extra if I want it replaced cheaper. Oh yeah, that’s like a warrentee add on.

Maybe batteries should be pro rated like tires.

Without a true economic advantage, electric cars would remain a novelty for the ultra-green, or gadget geeks.

I think battery breakthroughs will eventually make enough progress to make electric cars worth it, but it may take years or decades. Until then I’ll drive a Hybrid.

I think the automakers are playing with the numbers, because the more people adopt to a full EV, the less revenue they will see from routine maintenance, replacement parts and repair. The whole concept of a ‘hybrid’ allows them to ‘double dip’ on sales and maintenance costs, banking the consumer will be blinded by the ‘green’ marketing.

It sounds like greed once again holding the price of the batteries so high to where it seems ‘logical’ to charge more than double what you would pay for petro, to lease a battery. Then pay ‘again’ for the electricity. It seems auto companies are just looking for a replacement revenue stream for maintenance and replacement parts EV cars won’t need.

An electric car does not need to look like a space ship. Just rip out what’s not needed in a current petro design, and replace it with the necessary electrics. The battery and it’s components should cost no more than the current engine/transmission and other components necessary for the petro vehicle.