Comment There's one simple reason... (Score 1) 348
we won't have electric cars anytime soon. It's all related to that most despised of schemes: planned obsolescence.
ICE-driven cars break down, as everyone knows. With so many moving parts, vast temperature fluxations, etc, they very rarely last longer than 150,000 miles, which is around 10 years for most drivers. Most people who can afford to, however, end up purchasing a new car every two to three years, and trading off the old one, under the assumption that cars will start developing problems after 50,000 miles or so.
ICE-driven cars break down, as everyone knows. With so many moving parts, vast temperature fluxations, etc, they very rarely last longer than 150,000 miles, which is around 10 years for most drivers. Most people who can afford to, however, end up purchasing a new car every two to three years, and trading off the old one, under the assumption that cars will start developing problems after 50,000 miles or so.
However, electric motors and drivetrains have a much, much longer lifespan. I've never seen exact numbers, but I would imagine 200k-300k wouldn't be unreasonable.
So, as a business, do you choose to spend your R&D dollars on a car that needs to be replaced every 10 years, or a car that needs to be replaced every 20, 30, etc? It really doesn't make sense to cut your own throat like that. Granted, there will still be people who buy new cars every other year just to keep up in style, but the depreciation rate will decrease considerably.
BTW, I'm sure somebody else has mentioned this, but there's a movie called Who Killed the Electric Car? coming out soon that goes into this. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
