It has been reported that it could cost owners up to £19,000 to replace the battery in their electric car. The new battery for the Nissan Leaf cost more than double than that of past estimations. The Times has discovered these figures that regard the world’s top selling electric car.
The Government has predicted that the switch from fossil fuels to electric motoring will be much slower due to this disclosure. However, the figures did show the owners of the electric car would still save money over time because of the rise in petrol costs.
“Year of the electric car” was quoted for 2011. However, only 680 cars have been sold in Britain.
£43 million has been provided by the government to give a £5,000 grant. This is to be spread across 8,600 buyers of electric cars.
The Times also reported that after the governments £5,000 grant the Nissan Leaf still costs £26,000 to the owner. The new battery would need to be replaced after only a few years. The reason for this is because the batteries capacity can decrease if the owner chooses to use a ‘fast charge point’. A Top Gear episode shows Jeremy Clarkson having to be pushed into the centre of Lincoln as he has run out of power in his electric car. Unfortunately there were no public charging points.
Nissans GB’s senior advisor, Andy Palmer responded to the papers report by stating that the Lithium Ion Battery is made up of 48 modules. Each of these modules would cost £404 to replace, this adds up to be a total of £19,392 to replace a complete battery. Because vehicles are designed to be used for short journeys, the battery should last for a minimum of 10 years.