Electric-car

Electric vehicles are one of the top stories coming from the auto show in Detroit this week. But despite the introduction of even more electric concept cars, familiar old hybrids are projected to be the dominant form of electric vehicles.
Boston Consulting Group sought to inject some reality into the electric-car buzz even before the doors opened at the North American International Auto Show with the release of a study that concluded battery cost will keep pure EVs from taking over any time soon.

Specifically, auto makers need to lower the cost of batteries to $250 per kilowatt hour, which would mean cutting the current cost by far more than half. "Given the current technology options, we see substantial challenges to achieving this goal by 2020," wrote Xavier Mosquet of the Boston Consulting Group.

That's not to say that consumers won't like their plug-in electric cars, which can run entirely off of batteries or use a gasoline engine in combination with electric motors. A number of cars, in fact, already have a sizable fan base before even being delivered to customers, including the Tesla Model S, 2011 Nissan Leaf, 2011 Chevy Volt, the Think City, and the 2012 plug-in Toyota Prius.

But at this point, this first wave of electric vehicles will be aimed at early adopters who are eager to dramatically reduce gasoline use or want a car with prominent eco-credentials. Other likely buyers are fleet owners who have predictable driving patterns and tend to purchase based on the total cost of ownership, rather than only upfront cost.