Currently reading: Sixth of cars 'electric by 2020'
Large uptake of electric cars predicted by boss of leading battery maker

Electric cars will account for up to 15 per cent of the market by 2020, according to the boss of leading lithium ion battery maker Ener1.

But the bulk of the electric vehicle market will initially be taken up by small urban delivery vans, Ener1 CEO Charles Gassenheimer told Autocar.

Read the Autocar review of the Volvo C30 BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle)

‘We’re anticipating the market early adopters to be municipal government fleets, particularly in Asia and Europe’ he said, revealing that his company was involved in supplying technology to the Japanese postal service for its delivery vans.

However Gassenheimer also sees a future for electric cars such as the new battery powered Volvo C30, also one of his company’s projects. But, he argues that there’s no long term viability without a mass infrastructure of charging points being put in place.

‘We need the cars, the battery technology and the charging points and all three need to be there for electric cars to work’ he said.

However with a mass network of charging points battery technology could become simpler and cheaper: ‘Why make a car with a range of 150 miles, that no one really needs. With the right infrastructure we only need to make it last for 50 miles which requires a smaller and cheaper battery.’

Gassenheimer also predicts that leasing a battery, separate from an electric car is the way the industry will go.

‘In the short term you will have to buy them both together, but when we learn more about the life of a battery and recycling costs come down a battery will be financeable’ he said.

Chas Hallett

Twitter - follow autocar.co.uk

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MrTrilby 2 October 2009

Re: Sixth of cars 'electric by 2020'

rogerthecabinboy wrote:
Lastly, if oil was truly on the point of becoming scarce the market mechanism, i.e. price, would ration its usage through a rocketing price to choke off demand and ration valuable supply and encourage the entry into the market of competing energy solutions. This is not the case.
I'm guessing that you don't buy a lot of petrol, because you seem to have completely missed the fact that fuel prices have risen inexorably, and there is a huge consumer demand for economical cars. Take a look at the biggest selling cars nowadays - they're not the big capacity petrol guzzlers - they're the small economical turbo diesels and hybrids. Take a look at all the "coming soon as soon as we can get our act together" cars that have been announced. Are manufacturers mostly announcing monster V8 diesels, or smaller cars with more economical drivetrains? Which manufacturer hasn't announced either a petrol or diesel hybrid of some sort that's coming soon? Was Boeing's priority for their latest billion dollar plane development something that can fly ever faster carrying more people with no regard to how much fuel it burns, or something that targets fuel economy and cost of operation? Do you seriously think they're doing that because they think high fuel prices are going to blow over, or because they're forecasting fuel prices are only going to get worse and worse as: 1) Demand increases as the developing world becomes more developed 2) Supply becomes more expensive as it becomes harder and more expensive to extract remaining deposits 3) Supply becomes more volatile as those states with remaining deposits realise what a powerful hold they have over the world

jackjflash 2 October 2009

Re: Sixth of cars 'electric by 2020'

rogerthecabinboy wrote:
it's impossible to discuss a matter with something that has the IQ of a flat battery. You simply throw back slurs and smears.

No, calling someone a “dolt” and comparing their intelligence to a dead battery would be a better example. I was merely taking your quotes and pointing out that maybe the government isn’t always against you and that electric cars could possibly be of some benefit; that if in fact the whole electric car concept was flawed it would die of natural causes.

rogerthecabinboy wrote:
If you cannot contest the exposing of the 'hockey stick' data as fraudulent everything flowing from that is pointless.

I have stated here before I am no expert on global warming, I don’t think there is enough data to prove anything conclusive one way or the other. Are you an expert, or do you merely regurgitate anything you read that happens to agree with your premise?

rogerthecabinboy wrote:
As I said, a kilowatt-hour of battery stored energy is about $1,500 cost.

Yes, and memory for your computer, CPU’s, flat panel monitors were all about 10 times the cost a decade ago. I guess if you believe we have advanced battery technology as far as it can go you would have a point; I don’t happen to believe that.

rogerthecabinboy wrote:
The only way electric vehicles can compete in the market place is through large subsidy, funded by the taxpayer, a taxpayer that has gone broke in the UK, largely through the over-burden of existing taxes on energy and motoring.

So you are OK with the present tax for petrol/diesel, just not one for battery technology that could help reduce energy costs, or is it a case that you don’t want to be taxed at all? Because if that is your objective maybe you should move to a country that doesn’t provide the social safety net you enjoy. You might consider running for public office to change things you don’t like, I know it requires more effort than ranting on a forum but it would be much more conducive to changing things that cause you grief.

rogerthecabinboy wrote:
Lastly, if oil was truly on the point of becoming scarce the market mechanism, i.e. price, would ration its usage through a rocketing price to choke off demand and ration valuable supply and encourage the entry into the market of competing energy solutions.

Isn’t Merkel Russia’s lapdog right now because of oil, you see my friend it’s not only about availability or CO2 emissions, it’s about nations controlling their energy needs.

jackjflash 2 October 2009

Re: Sixth of cars 'electric by 2020'

Easy man, settle down, no need for name calling. The point I am making is that in the novel you authored above you seem to think that oil will last forever, that it is cheap, plentiful and easily accessible and that electric cars are a hoax perpetrated on the populace by politicians(government)for what end I have no idea. On the other hand you seem oddly confident in any chatter a German car manufacturer emits. You did state this…

rogerthecabinboy wrote:
is a hoax and a hugely lucrative scam for those behind it.

rogerthecabinboy wrote:
Catastrophic man made global warming by the emission of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, in car, lorries and so on is a lie. Let's not beat about the bush. It's a dreadful lie, a malicious act perpetrated on gullible people.

rogerthecabinboy wrote:
We are being lied to and swindled.

rogerthecabinboy wrote:
The race is on to get these electric cars to market and make money for battery producers like Enerl before the masses wake up to the mind-boggling hoax perpetrated on them and then the subsequent collapse of the whole alternative energy/eco energy, alternative propulsion of automobiles scam.

Sounds like the making of a conspiracy theory to me. Funny but you sound strangely similar to a former poster on these forums; I guess that is my conspiracy theory.