First Name: | Michael |
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Last Name: | Bachrach |
Email Address: | 2stepme@bellsouth.net |
Affiliation | |
Subject | Electric Car Acceptance |
Comment |
In my opinion the roll out of the electric car has been problematic. While the drivetrain (in my opinion) is superior to the ICE, the battery has been a complete failure. I live in South Florida and I own and drive a Nissan Leaf. While the range of the car is less than desired, the real problem is the longevity of the battery. After 50,000 miles my range is down 30%. Nissan has made this impossible to verify but it is obvious in the miles I can travel combined with an OBD scanner. Between the range and the longevity issue the resale value of my car has fallen from a purchase price of 38,500 to maybe 10,000 dollars in a little over 3 years. I am not happy about this loss, but the real problem is the demand for a used electric car. The fact that the resale value is low and certain to continue down points to the idea that these cars will ultimately provide relatively few miles per unit car for the investment. The electric car should last much longer than an ICE. The investment is from the owner (me) and government subsidies. Society has paid a lot of money to put these cars on the road and they need to provide service to potential users. If the manufacturers would produce upgraded replacement batteries for these potentially useful vehicles the vehicles could provide continued service to society. Counting on the manufacturer to upgrade and replace the batteries is questionable for at least two reasons. 1) they have no competition because they control the computer code used within the car so any new batteries might be inferior and overpriced. 2) Their desire may be to simply sell a new car and send the slightly used car to the landfill. Competition is the answer and you may have the solution. The ZEV credit has been used to move electric cars into the market. I think you could use ZEV credits to keep these cars on the road. Offer one or more ZEV credits to any company that upgrades an existing "100 mile" electric car to a "200 mile" electric car. Offer one or more ZEV credits to any company, for each car that they built, that provides the information for another company to replace the battery in an electric car that they produced. As an example this would allow Tesla to build a 200 mile battery for the Leaf. If this has reach the wrong department please forward it the proper department. Thanks you ... |
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2015-07-07 10:15:53 |
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