Why would I want to buy and electric car ?

Question

I want to buy one but besides the price of new batteries down the road what kind of maintenance to the engine will I have to perform? Will I be looking at lower maintenance costs than a internal combustion engine. Will the initial high cost to buy it even out after a few yrs ? Oh and how much money in energy will I save I mean my household current will be used to recharge!

Answer 1

Take a look at the Phoenix, it's a new electric pickup truck:
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http://phoenixmotorcars.com/models/fleet.html
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Using Altairnano batteries (based on the latest research from MIT), the Phoenix can:
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- Drive up to 250 miles per charge
- Carry 5 passengers plus cargo at 95mph
- Charges batteries in as little as TEN minutes.
- Has a battery life of 250,000 miles (never replace the batteries.)
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-The cost of electricity to drive, in most places, is only a penny or two per mile.
-The cost of maintenence is also very low. Electric motors have only one moving part, and can last decades without repairs.
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Cost is about $45,000. Expensive, but they are hand-built. The cost will drop if they are mass-produced. These are only being sold to fleet customers this year, but will be for sale to the public next year.
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If you're nervous about the high cost, buy an electric car conversion (an old car converted to electricity.) These cars are based on old battery technology, but are very inexpensive - as little as $5000. Link:
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http://www.squidoo.com/cheap-electric-car/
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I drive one of these. Since it's old battery technology, my battery pack lasts about 25,000 miles, if I take care of it, and costs about $1000 to replace. So that works out to about 4 cents per mile. My electricity cost is 1 cent per mile, so my total cost per mile is 5 cents. Other maintenence costs are very low. It's a very old car (from 1981) but the motor has never needed service in 25 years. Here's a picture of it:
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http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/775
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Answer 2

Hybrids are good if you are putting a lot of miles on in a day. If you are only running around town (50 miles or less per day) all electric starts to make sense. It costs literally pennies a day to recharge. It's the battery replacement that really costs you. If you are worried about air pollution, go electric. If you are worried about saving money on fuel, there is no significant savings if you figure in replacing the batteries every couple of years. However, new technology pops up all the time. Better batteries may swing it in favor of electric cars soon.

Answer 3

Are you buying Hybrid or electric? Hybrids are better with the day to day stuff. But any problem with the engine side and it gets way more costly.
Electric really has no downside.Cheaper to buy,maintain and service. It is basically a bigger golf cart. If you charge batteries properly it will last a long,long time. They are stronger than your 2yr old lasting regular 12volt. The charging unit at home uses less current than your refridgerator or electric range.
Problem with electric is big oil guys killed it.

Answer 4

Depends on what you get. Most of the hybrids now don't need to be plugged it, a small gas powered motor runs an alternator that keeps the battery charged, so you just get the 50 plus miles per gallon and don't need to find an outlet.

Answer 5

in the previous going any extra i could decide for to be responsive to the place each and all the greater desirable electrical energy to skill those issues is going to return from. in spite of you think approximately AGW of which option for skill is optimal/worst we face - a minimum of right here interior the united kingdom - a intense shortfall in production as our coal/gasoline/nuclear stations are being phased out. Take that with an increasing inhabitants and it variety of feels to me that someplace alongside the line a mandatory calculation is lacking. even nevertheless, assuming the magic wand arrives from ebay on time, i could purchase one IF the fee comes right down to easily below fully unaffordable, IF i will get one in each and every of those mileage out of it that i choose traveling the long distances I could desire to for my interest, and IF basically as quickly as I swap the government does not make the fee of that variety of motoring as bloody high priced as petrol/diesel is now, and IF i will locate one sufficiently vast to handle the musical gadgets which i choose for my interest. I a technique or the different would be unable to help thinking that an belongings version would be seen anathema to the 'eco-friendly' reason.

Answer 6

Well two issues come to mind immediately -

First the cost will even out as you get better MPG than you would via a car that runs on gasoline alone.

Second, there's always the environmental issue - hybrid cars emit less fumes that contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Answer 7

Electric? do you have to plug it in to drive it? LOL that would be one hell of a long cord.