Why Won't the EV Die?




Ever since the Trump administration began its effort to stop the growth of Battery Electric Vehicles, BEV's, online articles pop-up every other day either declaring the end of BEV production in the USA or announcing the billions of dollars lost by the legacy automotive companies invested in BEV's. These articles claim the US auto industry has finally heard from the consumer and it is telling the industry they just do not want battery electric vehicles, BEV's. The articles keep reporting that the projected growth of BEV sales prior to the elimination of government tax subsidies will not be achieved. Hidden in the articles is that growth is still increasing but just not as high as before Trump's attack on the BEV business. 

So why are consumers still buying BEV?  Reliability of BEV is much better than ICEV. This is made possible because the number of parts, especially moving parts, is many times less than that of an ICEV. It results in lower repair and maintenance cost.

Operating cost of BEV'S is much lower than ICEV's because electric motors and batteries are much more efficient in the use of energy. Batteries transfer energy at over 95 percent efficiency and electric motors transfer over 95 % of the energy directly to the drive wheel. On its best day an Internal Combustion Engine, ICE, is only 25% efficient, and an additional 15% of that is lost in the transfer to the drive wheels. This brings the efficiency of the vehicle down to 21%. Other factors will have an effect on both vehicles like weight, aerodynamics and environmental conditions but the BEV's chemical and mechanical advantage is so great it will always be more efficient. The BEV has an overall efficiency of more than 85%. This translates directly to the cost per mile of travel. If the cost for electricity and gasoline were the same, the distance you can travel with the BEV is much greater. This becomes very apparent when the miles per gallon equivalent, MPGe are calculated for BEV's. The average MPGe for BEV is over100 MPGe. The average mpg for ICEV, including hybrids and plug-in-hybrids is only 27 mpg. 

What the legacy auto industry has recognized is that the consumer wants a less expensive BEV so they are re-tooling their BEV projects to make smaller and even more efficient BEV's. Ford is replacing its F-150 Lightning that starts at $52,000 with a small pickup that is expected to start at $30,000. GM is selling its Equinox for under $30,000.

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