Death of the Internal Combustion Engine, page-12

No, not baiting. But all the money that’s been spent hasn’t resolved the problem. Cheap, or long life batteries. Fact.

The commercial basis of electric cars was based on rebates. When rebates are withdrawn, sales fall. Only a very few are prepared to pay the premium for a vehicle which will basically be worthless in eight years time. Here’s the arithmetic.

A few years ago I looked at second hand Leafs. A three year old was about $18k, compared to $50k for a new one. I asked about the battery pack, and was told it had just been replaced. Because I couldn’t convince the moron on the other end of the phone that the 12V lead acid battery that had just been replaced didn’t power the car for 135km, I couldn’t get him to find out how much a new Li pack would be. The current price is $10k.

https://electrek.co/2018/03/26/nissan-leaf-battery-pack-replacement-program/

You can see from the article that there are unanticipated problems with the batteries.

The current average is $209/kWh, or for the Leaf that’s supposed to be AU$8,000, don’t know why Nissan’s price is more, but for a Tesla 85kWh pack it’s AU$24k. Even if they reach their goal of $100/kWh, that’s still a cost of $12k to spend on a second hand car. $4,000 for the Leaf. Plus installation costs and disposal costs of the old battery.

https://insideevs.com/tesla-battery-cost/

Although not available in Australia, the new Leaf costs AU$40k, range 240km, compared to the similar sized Micra with 800k range for c. $14,000.