$6.00 gas needed to make plug-ins cost-effective
Forever a luxury item without $6.00 gas and industry cooperation?
A successful US battery industry requires a united, national effort
Back in September The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hosted the Advanced Batteries Cafe focused on creating a market-driven US industry built around plug-in vehicle batteries and batteries for stationary energy storage applications.
They found that $6.00 gas could make plug-ins cost-effective, but the US has a “longway” to go on the path towards developing a market-driven US battery industry according to a just-released summary.
“A solid manufacturing base that can readily accept innovations in process and technology from our universities, small companies, and national laboratories, converting them into a sustainable competitive advantage domestically and globally,” the group summarized, would be the key to develop a successful US battery industry.
Aside from $6.00 gas, the group found that “competitive price is the key, with safety, reliability, and convenience also major issues. Among the topics to consider: battery ownership, charging costs, and charging convenience.”
Perhaps most important, the group found that there is no “central focus” in the current US battery industry, which could impact “battery safety, quality assurance, logistics and supply chains, [and] warranty issues.”
Source: GreenCarCongress
Possibly. That might still be long term, such as in 5 years the extra upfront costs can be recovered in fuel savings. They didn’t define what they meant by cost-competitive. Likewise, there are still range issues, confidence, long term reliability, etc. that would factor into consumer preferences – as well as ability to charge.
Today, there are hybrids that can recover their extra costs in around 5 years or less and consumers still don’t buy them in great numbers because they don’t want to pay for their energy up front. Likewise, many consumer studies have shown that a significant percent of buyers, if not a majority, aren’t willing to pay anything extra upfront, or very little at the most, for either a hybrid or a plug-in.
if that’s true then plug-ins should take off like gangbusters in Europe, right?
[...] According to recent research, for instance, it will take $6.00 gas to make plug-in vehicles cost-effective. [...]