Motoring Discussion > Why electric vehicles are so costly? Green Issues
Thread Author: movilogo Replies: 3
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New Fri 24 Sep 10 07:49 
 Why electric vehicles are so costly? - movilogo
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1314640/Mini-unveils-electric-scooter-costs-1p-mile.html

Is it because their components are costly to manufacture or just because they are not made in bulk quantity?

Will their price come down (less than normal cars) when more & more people start to buy those vehicles?

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New Fri 24 Sep 10 08:55 
 Why electric vehicles are so costly? - smokie
"prices ranging from about £1,500 for something basic up to around £5,000 for a top end electric bike" - so this is a top-end.
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New Fri 24 Sep 10 09:02 
 Why electric vehicles are so costly? - hobby
He is right, though, Electric Vehicles are very expensive compared with their IC cousins... So much so that they are not really worth considering at the moment unless you commute a short distance into London Centre... and even then I'm sure there are IC cars that get round the Congestion Charge...
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New Fri 24 Sep 10 09:54 
 Why electric vehicles are so costly? - Bagpuss
>> Is it because their components are costly to manufacture or just because they are not
>> made in bulk quantity?

It's a bit of both. Electric and hybrid vehicles use rare earth magnets in the motors, have hi-tech batteries and use complex electronic control systems to optimise range and battery usage, make use of regenerative braking and various other things.

The batteries will come down in price once the manufacturing processes are optimised for very large quantities, though this may take a while. Same with the electronics. The cost of the rare earth magnets will depend on what the Chinese are prepared to sell them to us for.

In my opinion the biggest barrier to acceptance of electric vehicles will remain the range, the charging time and the battery life. Oh, and if the electricity is generated by a fossil fuelled power station, the CO2 emissions are higher than an equivalent diesel engine once you take transmission losses into account.
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