An Inconvenient Truth & Who Killed the Electric Car - Beyond Tiki

D donhonyc Tiki Socialite The Quiet EAST Village Joined: Jan 13, 2003 Posts: 1197	D donhonyc Posted posted on Tue, Jul 18, 2006 8:09 PM On 2006-07-18 19:13, TikiTikiTavi wrote: Haven't seen either movie but IMHO, resale price and battery cost is killing the electric car. This is from Toyota's website http://www.toyota.com/html/shop/vehicles/ravev/rav4ev_0_home/ Check out the last sentence in the third paragraph... "The cost to replace the battery is more than the value of the vehicle." A co-worker told me (unverified) that it costs over $7,000 to replace the batteries in a Toyota Prius. What do you do with all the dead batteries? I like the concept but think there are many bugs that need to be worked out before the public will flock to electric vehicles. I think these obstacles are created or funded, made possible or however you want to define it by powerful people who don't want this technology around. IMHO there are several environmentally friendly technological alternatives that have been developed and ready for the consumer, but are not put out on the market due to some fat-cat corporate CEO, politician, or lobbyists that feel that it will screw up the bottom line for them. So as far as the kinks that have to be worked out for the electric car, I'm not buyin' it. I'm sure that technology is ready to roll. It's electricity for chrissakes, were not talking about some new form of energy here that nobody knows about. If we can put a man on the moon, over 30 years ago yet, we can come up with a way to make a decent electric car.

On 2006-07-18 19:13, TikiTikiTavi wrote:
Haven't seen either movie but IMHO, resale price and battery cost is killing the electric car. This is from Toyota's website http://www.toyota.com/html/shop/vehicles/ravev/rav4ev_0_home/

Check out the last sentence in the third paragraph... "The cost to replace the battery is more than the value of the vehicle."

A co-worker told me (unverified) that it costs over $7,000 to replace the batteries in a Toyota Prius. What do you do with all the dead batteries? I like the concept but think there are many bugs that need to be worked out before the public will flock to electric vehicles.

I think these obstacles are created or funded, made possible or however you want to define it by powerful people who don't want this technology around. IMHO there are several environmentally friendly technological alternatives that have been developed and ready for the consumer, but are not put out on the market due to some fat-cat corporate CEO, politician, or lobbyists that feel that it will screw up the bottom line for them. So as far as the kinks that have to be worked out for the electric car, I'm not buyin' it. I'm sure that technology is ready to roll. It's electricity for chrissakes, were not talking about some new form of energy here that nobody knows about. If we can put a man on the moon, over 30 years ago yet, we can come up with a way to make a decent electric car.

Post #243753 by donhonyc on Tue, Jul 18, 2006 8:09 PM