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In the past year, there has been a dramatic rise in the use of batteries in vehicles. According to the NHTSA, the number of new cars sold with electric power has also jumped from 5% to 10 percent of all vehicles sold.
The point is that you can’t talk about these things without also talking about the technology. For example, Tesla has been in the news a lot lately for their battery-powered cars, and Toyota has been working on some very impressive technology as well. If you want some good news, consider that the U.S. electric vehicle market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 29 percent through 2017.
Now that’s the cool part! You can get a Tesla Powerwall from your local Tesla dealer, which is basically a high-end battery-powered car with a Tesla logo on it. The Powerwall is a huge battery that charges up in about an hour and then goes for a run. It also uses a Tesla-designed, super-efficient engine, so you can drive it on autopilot.
Unfortunately that’s the only good news that’s come out of the electric car race, because the battery life of the batteries used in EVs is getting longer and longer, particularly in the mid-range. So while the battery life is becoming longer, the range is becoming shorter and shorter. For example, a 2008 Chevy Volt can hit 60 miles on a charge, but a 2012 Tesla Model S can only go 60 miles in about an hour.
For what its worth, the Tesla’s range is about what’s called a “range-to-range” ratio of.45, which means that at 60 miles, it might be able to get to your destination, but would need to drive about an hour on the freeway to get there. The Chevy Volt’s ratio is.45, but at only about 30 miles, it’s capable of getting there, but it would take about two hours to get there. The Nissan Leaf’s ratio is.
The Volt and Tesla are both cars that can go over 60 miles in an hour. The Leaf is a hybrid, and the Tesla is a pure electric car. The Volt is a gas-powered car with a range-to-range ratio of.55, and the Tesla is a pure electric car with a range-to-range ratio of.45.
They are all capable of getting there, but it’s not something you’ll be driving. You’d be going to your office, where you can drive to your car to get there, then driving back home, using your gas credit to get there, then using your electric car to get there. At best you’d be using a lot of gas and driving to your office, then using your electric car to get there.
Like it or not, electric cars are here to stay, and battery technology is advancing fast. So it’s not surprising that the first electric car on the road is a plug-in electric car, the Volt. But the Tesla is also a plug-in electric car that only makes calls into a cell phone tower. So it’s a hybrid, but it doesn’t have to be.
I’m not sure what’s more surprising, the fact that Tesla now has a cell phone company as part of its business, or that its the first to ever have a car that only makes calls to a cell phone tower. The Volt is basically a plug-in electric car, but it doesnt use electric drive. So it’s a hybrid, and it doesnt have to be.
