Unless technology zooms to the rescue with all of its voltage firing full bore, two studies find that electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt will cost too much to appeal to most global
consumers, Justin Hyde reports.
"You will definitely see more hybrid cars on the road in the future," says Xavier Mosquet, senior partner in Boston Consulting Group's Detroit office.
The question, he says, is how big the market will be. BCG estimates that electric vehicles will be limited to a range of 160 to 190 miles by 2020 -- more than today but still less than
gasoline-powered vehicles -- and that only about 14 million automobiles worldwide a year will have some kind of electric power.
A study from the National Academies of Sciences last
month predicted even higher production costs for batteries than BCG does and also questions the environmental benefits of plug-in hybrids. Critics of the study charge that it is biased toward hydrogen
fuel cells. On the positive side, the Electrification Coalition -- essentially a trade group -- forecasts that a plug-in hybrid with a 40-mile, all-electric range will pay for itself without
government aid by 2015, Hyde reports.
advertisement
advertisement
Read the whole story at Detroit Free Press »