Electric Car Sales Soar by 2030

Posted on July 19, 2009 in Consumer Goods, Technology, The Environment

Would you buy an electric car if you didn’t have to shell out for the battery? According to a University of California, Berkeley study, electric car sales could increase to 86 percent of United States light vehicle sales by 2030 if consumers don’t have to purchase batteries themselves.

Instead, a company called Better Place and competing groups are planning to offer pay-per-mile plans similar to cell phone minutes. While a family would purchase the car, Better Place would own the battery and offer charging stations to keep the vehicle running. Better Place would also do upkeep, exchanging the battery in order to extend the driving range.

Better Place says that their system would be cheaper than using gasoline. Berkeley researchers determined that the per-mile cost of making and charging batteries, plus the cost of building a charging system, could be a similar or cheaper price depending on whether or not gas prices rise.

Although the charging systems could cost upwards of $320 billion to build, health-related savings due to less vehicle pollution could be $210 billion, according to economist Thomas Becker.