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Roundup: Electric and Hybrid Cars
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GM announced this week that the Chevrolet Volt’s battery will be guaranteed for 100,000 miles or eight years. That’s a long time to warranty anything, let alone a lithium-ion battery that is expected to power the car for up to 40 miles (more than other gas/electric hybrids).
Electric and hybrid cars are back in the news lately not because of rising gas prices, though they will certainly go back up soon, but because of Tesla’s sizzling hot IPO in late June. It surged, sank, and now sits around $20 a share after opening at $17. The roadsters are pretty sexy looking cars but at $100,000 a piece, it’s unlikely to find a wider audience. They’re coming out with a more mainstream car and investors are looking to latch onto that.
We both drive conventional gasoline cars and maybe one day we’ll go to hybrid or electric.
- If you have a huge estate and have been making reservations with the Grim Reaper, you might want to move them up a bit if you want to avoid the DEATH TAX. For this year only, you can pass along your estate to your heirs without taking a tax penalty. Next year, the tax is back with a smaller exemption and a higher maximum rate. So either buy a ton of stuff that depreciates quickly or die. Thanks.
- Sneaky design/marketing tricks piss me off. If you can’t get someone to buy your stuff on the merits, you really need to reconsider what you’re selling. I understand it when you do things to improve conversions (putting things where people expect it, clean design to convey a message, etc.) but the ones pointed out on that site are clearly deceptive.
- Goal setting with your partner is important, but what if your partner doesn’t cooperate with setting goals? Trent tackles the issue from a reader.
- It’s absolutely essential that you check your credit reports every year. Not only does it help detect identity theft as early as possible, but it also keeps it accurate and tidy. You don’t want to discover errors on your report a month before you’re set to sign a mortgage loan!
- My buddy Fred just installed hardwood flooring in his entire first floor and it looks absolutely amazing. I went over his place the other day to check out his handiwork and it was quite impressive. If you’ve considered a project like this, I recommend checking out his comprehensive post on the subject.
In unrelated news, here’s something to put a smile on your face. Funny or Die had Jewel go undercover to karaoke bars to sing her own songs, it’s pretty funny:
I hope Karen makes it out of frozen foods!
Have a great weekend!
(photo: jurvetson)
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I wonder if they will prorate the battery over the 8 years?
I still believe we are years and years from these cars making any impact. I drive 100 miles round trip every day, 5 days a week in my 12 year old Saturn and get 37 MPG. These things are years from getting price competitive.
saladdin
Mike: I wouldn’t be surprised. A straightup, 100% replacement warranty would probably get rather costly.
I would suppose it would depend on what the battery cost them to purchase and install.
I would also expect that the battery charging circuit would be quite a bit more sophisticated than its cell-phone counterpart, simply because far more is at stake. Even so, I’m carrying a four-year-old cell phone, which is still on its original battery and still gets mad run-time (a week and a half or so of standby under normal conditions). Batteries that have been treated well will last.
Finally, I would suppose that the battery warranty would involve cell replacements rather than full battery replacements, or that replaced batteries would be broken down into individual cells for testing and re-use.
Can’t forget that they didn’t expect batteries in the existing hybrids to last as long as they have, so 8 years is probably enough time for the majority of batteries to never need replacement under warranty.
I wonder if their performance will start to decline over time. Every battery I have ever had including lithium ion eventually start to get weaker.
The Jewel prank is cool. Harmless pranks like that can be a lot of fun, plus there is a practical element, which is that Jewel now has re-affirmation that people come to hear her sing for her voice, rather than her looks. She has more vocal talent in her pinkie finger than many of the current batch of pop tarts do in their entire bodies.
Hey Jim, thanks for sharing the post on installing hardwood floors. We’re having some work done in our house and I’m thinking of doing hardwood in one room. I’d do it myself to save money and I’ve been looking for some good tutorials.
i hate this new bandwagon of electric and hybrid cars. we suddenly forget the environmental and economic cost of extracting raw materials for the batteries or that the outlet you charge your electric car into has electricity coming from and produced by something else.
finally, the notion of capacitance based energy is simply wacked. capacitance based power is constantly diminishing and is more inefficient, regardless of the warranty of a hybrid battery. nothing like combustion that is far more efficient than capacitance. i’m all for clean energy, but we ought to be looking at non-capacitance based things.
Tim,
There are dozens of reason why electric cars are so much better for the environment than combustion. Even if you run an EV purely on coal based electricity, it pollutes far less than a gasoline car and is far more efficient. Plus, the energy mix for electricity will continue to get cleaner as more alternative sources come on line. I suspect many people who buy EVs will ultimately invest in solar.
If you look at the total environmental damage from burning oil (wells to wheels) it is an incredibly inneficient process. You have to drill for oil, pump it out, float it on a tanker, refine it and truck it to a station.
It is estimated to pollute up to 500 grams of CO2 per Kilometer driven versus 150 G/K for an EV.