If you want to start a debate about electric cars, the easiest way to do it is to mention costs. The price of electric cars leaves many consumers scratching their heads and wondering why automakers can't produce an EV that sells for a more reasonable price. But if you're going to launch that discussion, then brace yourself. The subject of conspiracy isn't far behind.
Electric car conspiracy theories come in a variety of flavors, ranging from the simple (carmakers price their EVs to fail) to the elegant (involving the crushing of GM's EV1) to the far-fetched (involving the suppression of secret battery chemistries).
The first flavor of theory came up recently on this site, when we mentioned that Toyota is selling its RAV4 EV for $49,800. Commenters wondered how the price could be so high. "Toyota's created a self-fulfilling prophecy, that these are going to sit on the lot," one reader wrote quite logically. That comment closely paralleled one from another reader (about a different article), who took it a step further by arguing that today's EVs are "designed to fail by being overweight, overpriced, [and] overteched."
The crushing of GM's EV1 remains the most prominent of the EV conspiracy theories.
The debate over the RAV4 EV's price won't ever reach the fever pitch that has long surrounded the crushing of GM's EV1 (which must still be the most monumental public relations gaffe in auto industry history). When we wrote about the EV1 last October, one reader caught the spirit of the moment by saying, "GM tracked down and destroyed all but a few of the EV-1's and the few that remained were disabled so they couldn't run."
Such debates are likely to continue for a long time. Many of the EV cognoscenti still believe that the auto industry is in cahoots with "big oil," and that the partnership is preventing the best battery technology from reaching the streets. The movie Who Killed the Electric Car? was partially built on that premise. It mentioned that the progress of EV batteries was interrupted when Texaco bought a stake in GM Ovonics, which made the nickel metal-hydride batteries for the EV1. If you check out any of a number of Websites, you can read the entire blow-by-blow of the alleged GM-oil industry conspiracy.
I have to admit that I draw the line at that one. Yes, I know that automotive marketing ain't beanbag (apologies for changing an old political phrase). I also know that high-level executives have been known to break laws to get their way. But after years of talking to battery experts at universities around the country, I can't believe there's a cleverly suppressed, world-beating battery technology languishing in a lab somewhere. If someone could build a battery with an energy density even one-tenth that of gasoline, scores of university PhDs would know about it. No conspiracy is that big.
Toyota may not know it, but by pricing the RAV4 EV at $49,800, it's unintentionally keeping the conspiracy talk alive. Even the EV loyalists, who praised Toyota for its persistence with the original RAV4 EV a decade ago, are starting to wonder. In an article on the new car, Forbes.com called the vehicle "stratospherically priced," and a Wall Street Journal reviewer wrote, "Sure, lithium ion batteries are expensive, but prices are falling and, well, I just don't see where the expense lies."
It won't take much more than that to get the conspiracy buzz going again.
Related posts:
For a close-up look at GM's Chevy Volt, go to the Drive for Innovation site and follow the cross-country journey of EE Life editorial director Brian Fuller.
industrial labratories provide the durable goods used by man, academic ventures try hard to keep up with the worlds instrumentation, but lack the ability of discovery, when compared to industrial labs, anfair comparison
Charles, when I brought my EV, I asked the same question to my dealer. Why companies are keeping the prices at high end, when compare with the gasoline based cars. His response is, it's a onetime investment and there after the running cost is negligible. First 2-3 years it's true because nothing goes wrong. But there after we have to change the battery once in 3-4 years, which cost you around ¼ of the car cost. So ineffectively there is no financial benefit other than the satisfaction of an ecco friendly vehicle.
Chuck: I sense some optimism there in your comments that at some point, some research group, university, or private sector company will nail the special sauce at the right price point. I guess the anticipation is so great and the market need potentially so ripe, that the idea of honing the technology over time is frustrating to so many--hence, the high degree of skepticism and the backlash around conspiracy theories.
For years Ford has had 5 fairly good sized vehicles that get over 60 mpg on sale in Europe. One as high as 68 mpg. Far better than the Prius. The board of directors met a few years ago in 2010 and decided they would not sell them in the US market. Some of those models are sold here, only without the high mileage engines. All of them meet US standards. The EPA will not allow one of those vehicles to be imported into the USA without a full factory level certification report on each vehicle which costs more than the car. The computer program chips on European vehicles sold in the US are set to waste gas to lower the mpg. Friends in the repair side of the US automotive industry order the European code chips and install them into their personal vehicles. An immediate boost in fuel mileage to European levels is the result. Conspiracy? What Conspiracy.
Ev takes a new mind set. Currently they are taking a gas powered vehicle and throwing in sufficiant quantities of batteries and motors to power them. The two concepts are as different as pony express and email. Cars with gas powered engines have 100 years of evolution. EVs could have had the same amount but they faltered early on. They will continue to fail if you want two tons of stuff moving with battery power.
I read all comments with an attention put into business and technical point of view.Let's start here: gasoline is expensive ONLY because of SPECULATORS. Supply and demand stopped existing when President Ford decontrolled petroleum business.Speculators jumped on it. Now they are on Lithium (of course).I have been an electrical engineer for 40 years and have seen tons of great electric cars and I do go to every convention of EV "private" builders. A lot of representatives of oil industry wonder around and many of them don't hide it at all. About twenty years ago I was given ONE cell of a battery used in submarines. I cannot reveal chemistry , but it was neither cheap, non expensive. I put a 1A 6V bulb on it and to my surprise it shined for 4 days. Battery cell was of a size of two cigarette packs.So let's stop that whining that we have no batteries and we can go only 80 miles on a charge.Average American travels 40 miles a day and almost NEVER uses cars for vacation. We like to fly.All we have to do is SUPPORT that industry and a right way is through hybrids (for whiners). I would not allow ANY oil company own a stock in EVs. I mean NONE :batteries, motors ,NOTHING. Once we start thinking about future all conspiracies will just be gone in a short time.
The engineering and technical professions should take pride in the existence of these conspiracy theories. They are based on the belief that there is no technical problem that cannot be be solved relatively easily. At the beginning of the automotive age, internal combustion, steam, and electric all started on a level playing field as far as infrastructure, supporting technology, etc. Internal combustion became dominant because of technical characteristics. Decades of development have refined those advantages to the level of efficiency we have today, giving internal combustion a substantial head start over other technologies. That being said, I can atleast consider the possibility that battery chemistry will never be good enough to unseat internal combustion - regardless of how much time and effort is expended.
If anything, the conspiracy here is that everyone is being told by the green and gov't types that EVs are ripe and ready to take center stage with everyone and his/her cousin having one parked in the garage. The real conspiracy (if we can call it that) is all the money going to these EV boon-doggle projects.
The fact is that competition and the profit motive in a free market economy would trump the conspiracies that were mentioned in the article. Assume that we allege that car companies are overpriciing their EVs - its only a matter of time before a competitor discovers similar but alternative technologies and finds a way to fill the marketplace gap.
By the way - I'm still waiting for my 100mpg carborater kit.
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