EVcast.com is the home of the EVcast. The EVcast is a podcast dedicated to bringing consumers the latest information on electric vehicles in a non-technical, non-political, and entertaining way. Don't forget, you can also subscribe to this podcast via iTunes or your favorite podcatcher.
NEW! Stream the latest episode of the EVcast from your website by including this one simple line of javascript:
<script src="http://www.igroops.com/evcast.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
Watch this Blog Notify me by e-mail any time a new post is made to this blog.
The EVcast is a podcast dedicated to bringing consumers the latest information on electric vehicles in a non-technical, non-political, and entertaining way.
Become Our Platinum SponsorProduct ID: 00000003Currently In Stock: 0
For the main sponsor, you get the big prize! A 622px wide x 100px tall banner that will appear on just about every page within EVcast.com, including blog posts. On the homepage, in place of the banner you will have a custom ... More »
Price: $2500.00
April 2009 Posts
Archives
Don't just listen to the EVcast -- experience and be a part of it! Join us at 1:00pm Eastern, M-F, in our live video broadcast and chat along with us!
If you figure out the real costs of a fully electric minivan they would sell zero. They can hide the costs of the electric system in a high end sports car so that is why they chose that direction, also they can small batch a pilot project, but the guys who are scrutinizing the Chrysler plan are the types to ask very hard questions, and already know the answers. Chrysler is going to get gonged on this, and frankly if you were asking harder questions on fully electric battery pack costs you would not think the minivan would have any market in electric. So we think more rigorous vetting is necessary, and in open debate your position has no merit. I have been saying the same about Vectrix for sometime and now that is becoming the reality there also. It is astounding that the key issues of the industry get brushed over, like battery pack costs for the respective vehicles, volume, etc. profitability. Obama wants a green world but he doesn't want a green fantasy that is unsupported by economics and unlikely to really impact the problem
quote comment
Oh great, another ridiculously high-priced electric sports car. Just what we all wanted.
Well, it is hard to blame them for picking the only model with a chance of breaking even, but it is still disappointing when it happens. But this is why they need to design EVs from the ground up instead of trying to jam batteries and electric motors into existing (inefficient and heavy) car designs. Yes, batteries are very expensive . . . so to do something practical, you need keep that in mind while designing the vehicle. Thus, you need to make the car small & efficient (Aptera & Th!nk City) or you need to do a small battery with range extender (Volt & Fisker).
In the near future, big heavy pure electric cars with long ranges just are not economically viable unless they are high-priced niche vehicles (Tesla Roadster, Dodge Circuit, etc.) And this is why the Tesla model S is such a 'Hail Mary' . . . its design is requires battery costs drops that may or may not happen.
Chrysler is just way behind. Chrysler might as well go bankrupt and sell Jeep off. No one really cares about much else they have.
Guest said:
"If you figure out the real costs of a fully electric minivan they would sell zero."
I wonder if you've figured out the "real" cost of a gasoline car? And by that I mean all the costs associated with securing our oil rights, our foreign policy that is dictated by where the oil is, the deaths caused by the consumption of the oil, the health costs of the folks who "only" get ill from it, etc. If we totalled all those costs up, we would sell zero gas cars, it would seem. But we don't worry about those costs, do we? We worry more about who is subsidizing what, and happily stick with the status quo because we're comfortable with it.
