Forty percent of consumers report they are likely to test drive an electric vehicle, according to a new study of online American adults from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®. The study, Electric Vehicles: The Future of Driving, suggests electric vehicles entice consumers with improved environmental quality and potential cost savings, but leave them with questions about battery life and convenience of battery charging. “But concerns regarding battery life, charging stations and limited mileage may keep some consumers away until a comprehensive infrastructure is in place.”
Consumers are open to considering an electric vehicle in the future, with 42 percent reporting they are likely to follow news reports about electric vehicles. However, overall awareness of the various types of alternative vehicles remains low. While nearly one-third (32 percent) report they are familiar, or very familiar, with hybrid vehicles, only about one-quarter are familiar with electric-powered vehicles (25 percent).
For the first time, electric vehicles will be featured at the 2011 International CES, showcasing a full range of high- and low- speed vehicles, energy storage devices and charging equipment. This new CES TechZone will feature major automotive companies, including Audi, in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall. Those consumers who are open to buying an electric vehicle cite the positive environmental impact and potential cost savings as primary reasons to do so. More than three-quarters of those surveyed (78 percent) said the vehicle’s ability to run without gasoline is the greatest advantage, followed by less pollution (67 percent), and the lack of need for oil changes and tune-ups (60 percent).
“Environmental benefits, coupled with potential cost savings in fuel and tune-ups, will lead to increased interest for electric vehicles and potential floor traffic at dealerships,” said Ely. “But concerns regarding battery life, charging stations and limited mileage may keep some consumers away until a comprehensive infrastructure is in place.”
Martin Eberhard, a former CEO of Tesla Motors, now Director of Battery Research for Volkswagen, was recently interviewed by several different publications about what direction VW was heading in regarding their research into electric vehicles. Some of the answers were pretty interesting.
While many of the OEM’s are exploring different methods for packaging cells together, Eberhard is continuing the work he did at Tesla in using battery packs made up of the “18650″ lithium-ion cells that are widely used in the laptop computer industry. The amp-hours of energy that can be crammed into a battery pack’s cells help determine the range of travel a full pack can deliver on a single charge. Eberhard said the growth rate in battery cell energy capacity had been running about 8 percent a year “and my bet is we’ll be on an 8 percent annual growth rate” in the future. To quote a friend and colleague over at Autoblog, “that’s a whole lot of percents!” At that rate the capacity of batteries will double with nine year.
In the interview Eberhard also stated that with EV’s batteries are THE most important part of the equation. He also believes the 18650 cell, is a commodity battery, and that it is the best hope for delivering less costly and more energy dense batteries because so many are made and so much work is being done by so many to improve them. In reality until the late 90′s consumer electronic boom, very little research had gone into battery technology for almost 70 years.