MalcolmB wrote:If you want a relatively inexpensive runabout with less than say 30 miles range, lead still makes excellent sense. If you're looking for better performance and/or longer range then it's worth doing the sums for your particular application to see whether lithium would make a better choice. The relative merits vary widely depending on your needs.
This is the key really isn't it? What the vehicle is used for?
I'm a firm believer in using vehicles differently to the current norm which is that you have one car that does all your journeys. Well more and more housholds now have multiple cars and the majority of the journeys are short distances with few people in the the vehicle. Yet there's been a profusion of 7 seater people carriers which is just ludicrous to my mind. I know people will say having more than one car is too but give it a try you'll soon see it makes a lot of sense in fact and you can actually do without the big family car after all. Which is where we come in on the EV front and the battery question. Do you really need your EV to have a range of over 40 miles ?
I think the Chevy Volt (or is it GM Volt) with the 40 mile EV range then over to Range extender petrol will be the real answer and for them to be investing hundreds of millions into this kind of platform confirms this thought to my mind.