Growing Pains for Electric Vehicle Manufacturers

October 25th, 2011 by Silvio Marcacci

Tesla embodies the growing pains of many EV manufacturers

One estimate says more than 600,000 EVs could be on U.S. roads by 2014, but that’s a speck in the rear-view mirror compared to the 140 million passenger cars Americans already drive. And, high vehicle costs combined with range anxiety makes many consumers leery to get off gasoline. So is the EV industry accelerating or running out of juice?

energyNOW! correspondent Lee Patrick Sullivan looked at the independent carmakers and big auto companies trying to charge up the transition to EVs and convince American drivers that going electric is really worth it. You can watch the full segment by clicking the video below:

Electric vehicles hold great promise for reducing both emissions and our dependence on foreign oil. Almost 30 percent of America’s energy use is for transportation, and almost all of that comes from oil, costing $300 billion per year. When compared to an Electric Power Research Institute estimate that running an EV costs 20 percent filling up a car with gasoline, and EPA’s estimate that EVs are half as carbon-intensive as gas-powered vehicles, the benefits of electric are clear.

But many potential EV owners are concerned about the higher up-front price of electric cars (despite them being cost-competitive or cheaper in the long term) and their limited range compared to gasoline-fueled models. Buying an EV can cost anywhere from $32,000 to $120,000, a tab somewhat mitigated by the $7,500 federal tax credit. And, most EVs get about 100 miles on a single battery charge, compared to 400 miles per tank for internal combustion engines. A recent study from Deloitte found that only 20 percent of U.S. drivers say they would buy an EV with a 100-mile range.

Perhaps no company embodies the EV industry better than Tesla Motors. Despite a successful launch of its Roadster model, the company was running on fumes until a Department of Energy low-interest loan enabled it to raise $600 million in private capital, build a massive factory, and launch its second vehicle, the Model S. “This is the first car that will have over 300 miles of electric range,” said JB Straubel, CTO and co-founder of Tesla Motors.

Several other notable EV manufacturers weren’t as fortunate as Tesla over the past year, however. Fisker Automotive had several delays in launching its extended-range EV, and both Modec and Think Automotive declared bankruptcy. Major automakers like Nissan and Chevrolet debuted their EV models this year, but have only sold half as many Volts and Leafs as expected.

These difficulties aren’t a surprise to Straubel. “It’s an extremely hard activity,” he said. “The tooling required, the investment, the years of engineering and validation, it’s all very, very difficult.”

But a brighter future may be just around the corner for America’s EV industry. At least five new EV models will debut from automakers like Ford, SmartCar, and Mini. And as more models hit the road, collaboration is occurring between manufacturers, which drives down costs. Tesla currently makes battery packs and chargers for Daimler AG and Mercedes, and will soon make the motor for Toyota’s electric RAV4.

“Our vision is to drive down the price of electric vehicles and the technology that makes them possible, relentlessly,” said Straubel. “Everything we’re doing internally is reducing the cost of battery packs, reducing the cost of motors.”

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Tags: Chevy Volt, Fisker, Nissan Leaf, Range anxiety, Tesla

About the Author

Silvio Marcacci Silvio is Principal at Marcacci Communications, a full-service clean energy and climate policy public relations company based in Oakland, CA.

http://www.facebook.com/ule.amra Ule Amra

OK, so it’s July 2012, and in many parts of the country manufacturers are still not delivering the EVs they supposedly have for sale. I’m still waiting for an i-MiEV after “pre-ordering” in April, while I see hundreds of unsold cars sitting in lots around the country. Meanwhile, Toyota prominently features plug-ins in their “Prius family” ads, but won’t deliver them to dealers in most states, again while some vehicles sit unsold in the lucky few “chosen” markets. We’ve all seen the joke of the Ford Focus Electric’s approach to marketing and distribution. At this stage, the only EVs I see sitting on lots here in New Mexico ready for immediate sale are Chevy Volts. I can’t really tell if all this is just incompetence or serving some subtle purpose, but either way it causes me to doubt that the dismal sales numbers we’re seeing are truly indicative of consumer demand. You can’t sell what you won’t deliver.
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  Wow, that’s not cool to hear. And definitely would be a big issue if this is the case many places.
Bob_Wallace

I wonder about the percentage of US drivers who could use an 100 mile range EV without problem.

Most multiple car households, I would imagine, would be fine if one car was a “100” EV. If more than one person is commuting more than 100 miles per day they probably need to move.

Those people who use their cars only for ‘around town’. That use public transportation for longer trips.

Those people who rarely take a long trip. For them it might be cheaper to rent a gasmobile once in a while if public transportation doesn’t work.

I’m going to guess that half the US cars fall into one of those categories. That might set the upper limit for the “100” EV. Of course most expect that we’ll see higher ranges soon.

Keep your eyes open for an announcement from Renault in early March. Scuttlebutt is that they will announce an affordable 200 mile EV. Renault confirms that they have a big announcement to make but won’t confirm the details.

Renault is all partnered up with Nissan, for those who aren’t aware. They share a CEO and battery tech.
http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan

Damn, that doesn’t change the picture, doesn’t it?
Breath on the Wind

Some of the figures you mentioned were also mentioned in “Revenge of the Electric Car” http://cleantechnica.com/2011/10/23/revenge-of-the-electric-car-the-kings-a-review/ But just imagine if the 20% who said that they would buy an Electric Vehicle with a 100 mile range did so over the next 4 years. Even at today’s volume 20% of 140 million vehicles would give us 28 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015!! I think that most people would consider that a huge success. Obama is only hoping for 1 million by that time.

I would suggest then that there are plenty of people in the 100 mile EV range market and 4 years is a nice bit of time for innovations and improvements.. The question for automakers is who is going to take the lions share of that market. Nissan is a current favorite but the less expensive Mitsubishi I Miev has yet to hit the market in the US in any big way.