Electric Vehicle question: What is the lead-acid batteries' cost-per-mile in a Battery Electric Car?

Question

This is a question for people who own/owned electric vehicles. What make/model/size batteries did you have, and the total purchase cost, and how many miles did you get out of your batteries? If you divide your total purchase cost of the batteries by the miles, you'll get the Cost Per Mile for the battery pack.

David Butcher's Sparrow diary on the 'net states that he got about 7000 miles for his Optima battery pack.

In BC, Canada, Butcher's pack of 13 Optimas would cost C$4000, and Butcher's cost per mile would therefore be 56 cents per mile.

For comparison, one Ego-II electric scooter owner got 6570 miles with revived batteries, and the pack's replacement cost was C$190, for a Cost-Per-Mile of less than 3 cents.

I'm curious as to how much other electric car and scooter owners get, on a Cost-Per-Mile basis, out of their battery packs.

Thanks in advance for all answers.

Also, have you read the new book, "Lives Per Gallon"?

Answer 1

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Well, Optimas are expensive batteries. I drive an old Jet Electra Van made in 1981. I have been able to get a good price on US Battery brand deep-cycle 6 volt batteries (golf cart style batteries), and the cost of the 17 batteries in my van is about $850 (after subtracting the recycling deposits.)
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I haven't had the pack in my vehicle long enough to run it all the way down, but I understand from other users of these batteries that a lifetime of up to 30,000 miles is possible, if they are well cared for and not discharged very deeply. I would be surprised to get less than 20,000 miles out of them considering my commute is very short, and the batteries are kept well-charged.
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So, using the lower number would make my battery cost-per-mile about 4 cents. Since my electricity cost is under 1 cent per mile, driving the EV is pretty cheap.
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Revived batteries would probably cut my cost in half!
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