The business section of my newspaper yesterday had a couple of interesting electric car articles. As you know, Tesla plans to install an extensive system of their "Superchargers" throughout the U.S. What was news to me is that they will be powered by solar panels and grid storage, so that they will be "carbon neutral" and would be able to function "if the nation's vast electric grid crashed". Does Elon Musk know something that Homeland Security doesn't? It doesn't seem likely to me that you could power the charging stations using only solar power, so maybe Tesla is planning on buying solar power from one location so that they can use grid power for the charging stations at other locations. On the other hand, that comment about the stations operating should the grid crash, makes it sound like they will use on-site power for the stations.
The article goes on to say that California will have 25 to 30 charging stations along the major highways throughout the state.
What I found interesting is that Harris Ranch, located halfway between Los Angles and San Francisco, near I-5, reports that they have 6 Supercharger ports, which are already occupied with four or five Model S sedans charging at the same time on the weekends. Finding an empty charging port when you roll up along I-5 on your way to LA, might soon be a problem as more Model S sedans are sold. The thought has also occurred to me that maintaining all of these charging stations throughout the U.S. will be quite a challenge and could be pretty expensive for Tesla, especially if they become subject to vandalism or weather-related damage. These devices are not Egyptian pyramids and will require continual maintenance - especially when someone drives off with their charging cord still connected to the charger, as I almost did last month when charging my Zero.
Another article discusses Honda slashing by one-third the monthly lease cost of the Fit EV, "in order to spur lagging interest in the vehicle". They will now offer the car at a cost of $259 a month for the lease, down from $389 and Honda will throw in a free 240V ($995) home charging station, as well as asking for no money down, with unlimited mileage, free routine maintenance and collision insurance coverage, all offered for free. As a comparison, an IC Fit leases for $169 a month with $2000 for a 3-year term. Honda now has a total of 36 dealers trained to sell the Fit EV in OR, CA, NY, NJ, MA, RI, Conn and Maryland. They plan to expand that network to 200 dealers by the end of June.
This follows GM dropping its Spark EV lease to $199 a month, with $999 down and Nissan doing the same, with $1,999 deposit (down from a high of $369 a month in 2011). Both of those deals are for a 3-year lease with a 12K a year mileage cap. The article notes that the manufacturers will get the $7,500 federal credit for each car leased.
Apparently the EV auto manufacturers are not making any money on these vehicles. Chrysler's CEO, Sergio Marchionne, said earlier this year that his company will loose $10,000 on every Fiat 500 EV it sells. Other companies have reported similar losses on their electric cars. It kind of makes you wonder how long they can suffer this kind of loss by selling EV's? It also make me wonder how Brammo and Zero are making out financially with their EV motorcycle business. It doesn't look like anyone is getting rich making electric vehicles - except maybe Tesla, who seem to have really figured out the market, so far.
In a related item, it was reported this week that the CA rebate fund is out of cash and won't be able to hand out any more rebates until next year.
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Topic: The electric car market report (Read 635 times)