27 Feb 2024

Electric cars - NOT amateur radio

Compared with a few years ago, there are about twice the number of electric cars on the road. Having said that, I would guess only about 1% of cars are electric. 

At the moment, electric cars are not good value. They are expensive, the range is not good enough, they use battery materials that are not commonly available and their insurance is high.

In my view, there will be lots of battery research leading to batteries that have far greater range and far lower cost cars. 

I expect a tipping point in a few years from now when electric cars will be similarly priced to fossil fuelled cars with ranges that mean charging will be infrequent. Many will charge at home on low energy deals and cars will only need charging every few weeks.

My feelings are "not yet, but soon".

It would be a great shame if the Chinese and Americans got there first and guarded all the patents.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Dacia Spring is due to launch very soon..

Runoured price is below 20K. it could be a game changer..


73's Steve


PE4BAS, Bas said...

There need to be a big change and that costs a lot of money. I doubt it is economically interesting right now. The electric car really needs another kind of battery. Besides that there are electrical network issues especially in high populated areas, at least that's the problem right now in the Netherlands. There is a long way to go. I think it will take at least another 20 years of development and network investments before the majority of people change to electric cars. Even when cheaper electric cars get on the market right now, there are not enough benefits to make it interesting. Personally think that, till things change, the best way to drive is a hybrid (not a plug in hybrid). You got best of both worlds. 73, Bas