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Politics : Politics of Energy

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To: Road Walker who wrote (10857)7/8/2009 10:38:07 AM
From: Hawkmoon  Read Replies (1) of 86356
 
All numbers off the top of my head and just thinking out loud.

Let's do some math...

Presume you drive 10K per year....

If your car gets 20mpg, then you'll consume 500 gallons.

At a price of $6/gallon, that's $3000 in annual fuel expenditures.

At 50mpg, it's $1200 per year.

At 100mpg, it's $600 per year.

NOW... depending on what the actual cost of the replacement battery turns out to be (it could be lower due to greater production volume, or higher due to cost of raw materials), let's figure $20K as fair price. I set that price according to the recent Wired article I posted where replacement Li-Ion batteries were being priced at $20-30K each.

So I drive my 20mpg car for 7 years and spend $3K x 7 = $21K

I drive my 50mpg hybrid for 7 years and spend $8400 and now face spending $2K for a replacement battery.

autobloggreen.com

But Li-ion is going to cost me $4200 in fuel cost, then hit me with $20-30K in battery replacement costs.

At $6/gallon, the Prius is the way to go... Batteries are cheaper, have a better track record and cycle rate. However, like Lithium, a major rare metal used in NiMH is almost exclusively mined in China. Single source for rare element is not a good idea.

Hawk
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