lithium ion and electric autos

[JamesW]

I looks like we are all going to end up switching from our ICE powered autos sooner rather than later, maybe?  I'm not opposed to this necessarily but imo it is too soon to get excited because it looks to me that battery technology is on the cusp of making substantial technical break throughs.  The li-batteries in today's all electric cars are heavy, have long times for charging, and have limited range.

 

We have a neighbor that recently purchased a Chevy Bolt.  The Bolt battery weighs 1000 pounds, and takes many hours to fully charge and has a limited range of only a couple hundred miles.  Although the battery has an 8 year warranty GM won't replace the battery during those 8 years unless it loses 40% of its capacity.  Also, the cost of a replacement battery is at present about $18,000.  This tells me that when the car is 8 years old and no longer has an active battery warranty the car is essentially worthless.  To make matters worse there is no guarantee that it will be possible in 8 years to replace the battery with newer technology and battery technology for EV autos will surely have advanced greatly in those 8 years without doubt. 

 

My wife and I tend to keep a car for a long time.  At present we own a 2008 Ford Escape that is in perfect low mileage condition (68K miles) and an '11 Mustang GT/CS with only 35K miles so no need to get excited but we do intend to make our next cars be all electric, we hope.  Oh, and we're the original owners of our two vehicles.

 

My question is what can we expect to see in the next few years when it comes to technological advances in battery technology and can one assume that it will be possible to update today's EV autos with new tech batteries in the future.  I would also think that there will be after market manufacturers come on line with batteries that can be fitted to older EVs, maybe?

So many unanswered questions and maybe too soon to even speculate.

[Hosstage]

All kinds of articles on this, many companies doing battery r&d, one big issue currently and having an even bigger impact in the near future is resources, raw material to manufacture, and who supplies it, who has it, who controls it. Currently China and Russia have the largest reserves, and the environmental impact to mine it will be substantial.

You can bet that once it is found in the Amazon, you can kiss that ecosystem goodbye, it will be plowed under like last year's corn field.

[Hosstage]

One big caveat to electric vehicles is the effect of cold weather on their efficiency. There is no efficiency once the weather gets below 32°F, and far less when it hits 0°F.

 

Having said all that, eventually it will be the majority of vehicles, more than likely.

[JamesW]

Besides lithium cobalt and nickel are used in the cathode or the anode in these batteries (can't remember witch) and these metals are also scarce.  Then there is the problem with electric resources just to charge all these batteries.  I mean California already throws a load on Grand Coulee as it is.

 

Now, I don't mean to sound like a doom sayer but I really think that the problem with global warming being directly related to human activity can only really be solved if there is fewer of us two legged creatures roaming around on the planet.  Somehow I think the earth will abide with the end result being a drastic reduction in our numbers.  I think this is actually the only efficient solution to what is really a human caused problem.  I doubt if I'll be around to see what happens.  Lucky me.

[Hosstage]

1 hour ago, JamesW said:

Besides lithium cobalt and nickel are used in the cathode or the anode in these batteries (can't remember witch) and these metals are also scarce.  Then there is the problem with electric resources just to charge all these batteries.  I mean California already throws a load on Grand Coulee as it is.

 

Now, I don't mean to sound like a doom sayer but I really think that the problem with global warming being directly related to human activity can only really be solved if there is fewer of us two legged creatures roaming around on the planet.  Somehow I think the earth will abide with the end result being a drastic reduction in our numbers.  I think this is actually the only efficient solution to what is really a human caused problem.  I doubt if I'll be around to see what happens.  Lucky me.

I can't disagree with any of that.