What's up with the Bolt
...to paraphrase a former US president: "Its the battery...." If it is about EVs, it is nearly ALWAYS going to be about the battery.
Moving a vehicle down the road, climbing a hill, towing a trailer...whatever, takes a lot of energy and, except for electric trains and trolley cars or San Francisco cable cars, that energy must be stored on the vehicle. Most vehicles store it in the form of chemical energy embodied in liquid or gaseous fuels like diesel, gasoline, NG, propane etc. Electric vehicles use electric potential energy embodied batteries made from chemicals that can store and deliver energy - hopefully at a controlled rate. No matter what form of energy storage mechanism is used, the energy is on-board the vehicle and if that energy gets out of control, you will have a nasty problem. Any thoughts that EVs are some sort of benign, enviro-friendly, green, harmless, happy-happy/joy-joy device is total bunk - like all vehicles, they store a sh!tload of energy and that energy is just busting to get out.
Basically, the only viable option for electric vehicle storage batteries at present is based on lithium chemistry with small amounts of several other extremely expensive materials (referred to as "pixie dust" in the industry) added to improve performance and thermal stability. There are several distinct problems with this type of chemistry and these issues can be broadly divided into:
- cost: a typical EV battery costs more than the rest of the vehicle - literally more than 50% of the cost of the vehicle when new;
- supply chain: lithium and another key ingredient - cobalt and others are, at present, only being mined in isolated and politically unstable countries such as Chile and the "Democratic Republic" of the Congo (note the use of quotes on "DR" - cause it ain't);
- operating characteristic: of the batteries (see below);
- do not like being too cold;
- do not like being too hot;
- do not like being charged too fast;
- do not like being charged too many times (i.e. they have a finite life - and beyond that, they die either slowly or very quickly - once again refer to the attached video);
- do not like being stored either at too low a state of charge or at too high a state of charge;
- do not like being discharged too fast;
- do not like being discharged too far (run down to a state where they contain too little energy);
- etc. etc. etc.
On the Bolt specifically, here is a good video from Transport Evolved...
There are lots of smart people working on these problems and they are making some progress, but the fundamental issues remain and until they are really nailed, EVs (IMO) will remain a challenging option for many consumers. For example, there are several very large exploration and mining projects in the US and Canada right now which are intended to provide a lower cost and more stable supply of the key battery materials. In addition, there is very active research underway to develop more stable battery chemistries and reduce the requirements for rare materials (the supplies of which are largely controlled by the Chinese - which should hardly give any of us any comfort).
In the meantime, large recalls (such as that for the Chevy Bolt and at least one other EV model) will continue to pop-up from time to time. Now, recalls are simply a fact of life in the auto industry, but these battery recalls are a bit different from most because they involve a component which is worth more than the rest of the car combined and that was not expected to ever need service at a retail dealership. I know, from personal experience, that changing an EV battery is a highly non-trivial task and few if any dealerships are equipped to do it.
The other thing is that as new batteries are developed, older EVs will become "orphans" which the newer batteries do not fit and thus, the older cars will become obsolete - basically, just small, pretty, four-wheel garden sheds.
To prove that point, here is a nice video from CBC News, featuring the attractive and articulate Heather Hiscox (sigh....), about a chap in British Columbia who has a 2013 Nissan Leaf which he likes very much. The problem is that the original Leaf battery has lost capacity (see the above list of operating characteristic issues) to the point where the car is not really very useful any longer. So - this guy wants to buy a new battery, and Nissan has quoted him about $15,000 for it, which he is willing to pay because the rest of the now 9-model year old car is still fine - but - Nissan cannot actually get a new battery for him because those 2013 model batteries are no longer made.
This situation is like the new car that you just bought can only use a special fuel that will only be made for a few years and after that - you're on your own baby!
One final point: ask yourself how much a small econbox car is worth when it is 9 years old....say, $2-4,000 - tops - depending on the specific model and its condition?
Now, consider that the average age of a car in North America is about 11+ years - and so the guy in BC has a relatively "young" car which is becoming virtually useless and thus has very little value, despite being totally undamaged and fully serviceable - except for one component which is unobtainable at any price - even one which is far more than the whole vehicle is worth.
I'm stickin' with my slightly rusty and ratty 2012 Ford Escape.....
Pete
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