A quick search of
http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/ doesn't give any projections for either the cost of recharging nor the cost of the vehicle. It also doesn't address the projected maintenance costs of the batteries, power train, etc. I realize that this is still a concept car, but they are hoping to produce it in about two years.
I think this car is a great idea, but I suspect that its costs are going to be much greater than what people are hoping for. Does anyone have a link to a third-party analysis of the projected costs of this vehicle?
Plus, the US power grid will melt down (literally) as a result of electric car owners plugging in every night, unless the infrastructure is upgraded to some multiple of its current capacity. I haven't read of any plans to do this.
>>Plus, the US power grid will melt down (literally) as a result of electric car owners plugging in every night, unless the infrastructure is upgraded to some multiple of its current capacity.
I'm guessing neither of you knows what a typical daily electrical demand curve looks like, at least in the Sunbelt. Here's a typical curve I found with an image search. Ignore the "battery charge percent", which has to do with the technical paper I got this chart from, on the subject of using electric vehicles to supply power to the grid during peak periods.
The effect of charging overnight would be to flatten the load curve, with little peak increase, which means that the utilities would get more use out of their installed capital equipment. This would tend to reduce cost/kWh over the long haul.
The one thing that might be needed, would be a time delay on recharging until after, say, about 7PM, to make sure that enough office and air conditioning loads have dropped off the grid, so that a new peak in that approximate time frame doesn't get created.