I have an electra that is in pieces, the motor and controller and such had been left out in the elements and are wasting away. the car is junk a big piece of rust at this point. got it free so id figure we can try to save it but i dont think so.
$10,000 to build an ev compared to buying a $41,000 volt or $32,000 leaf is pretty good. even spending $20,000 is good. still puts you ahead. a 2009 or earlier prius can have batteries added to it that cost $10,000 and make the first 50 miles all electric. the prius selsl for $25,000 or more so that still puts them in the $35,000 area. a hybrid can at best get 50 miles per gallon. an electric car goes 100 miles on $3.00 of electric so now that compares to 100 miles per gallon. when gas goes up and it will that miles per gallon will raise.
to drive a gasoline hybrid costs $1000.00 a year if you go 15000 miles per year. thats 6.5 cents per mile just for gas. add in the oil changes, the filter changes, the cost of repair of the gasoline engine over time and that cost can double. also dont forget gas is going up. so those numbers go up.
to drive an electric car costs $450 a year for electric for 15000 miles. thats 3 cents per mile. there are no oil changes, no filter changes, and no repairs to a gas engine. the battery carries a 8 year 100000 mile warranty. the cost of the battery for the leaf RIGHT NOW is in debate but it seems the average is $10,000. thats todays price and doesnt really account because the next eight years is all under warranty. if the battery was to fail due to failure within the 8 years say at 6 years, you now have a new battery pack and now have another 8 years before you have out of pocket expense. as production rolls on the price will drop for batteries. consumer china batteries for us ev builders is $333 per kilowatt hour or $1.25 per amp hour. I will admit however if the car companies jump ship on the electric cars the owners are going to trade in their electric before the warranty expires I am sure.
me lead acid pack will cost $1100 and last 5 years, maybe more with the capacitors. that means I am spending $2200 per 10 years for my batteries.
now I can really make electric cars cheaper by the miles if you charge from solar panels at home. This is actually the way it should be and makes the most sense.
driving electric has advantages in that you are not tied to the pump and a price that rises. it has fallen over the years but the cost of extraction of oil isnt going down and opec has admittedly said they like 100 a barrel and will keep production to make it that price. we are also seeing evidence of peak oil. it was predicted in america and we reached our peak about 1970.
and as far as oil goes, there is many more factors that make the price higher. The price which cannot be even calculated is human life. 100's of thousands of people have died for oil over the last 100 years, maybe even a million.
I would just like to drive electric, charge off solar panels and not even think about oil for my car. I am not a supporter of man made global warming at all. so that isnt even a thought.
if you prefer gasoline hybrids, I say everyone has choices to what they drive and noone is wrong.
so with that out of the way, how about getting back to the project, even if it is theoretical. I am sure many have had this discussion about ultracapacitors and Id like one to end with a solution rather than forget it, it costs too much.