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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
byShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) * writes:
1,000 miles of range, it said, and requires refills of distilled water about every 200 miles.
My car has a range of 6000 miles. That is how often I have to stop to change the motor oil. Of course, I also have to stop every 300 miles to get some gas.
byAnonymous Coward writes:
For that matter, exactly how much will that distilled water cost you every 200 miles?
Last time I looked for it, distilled water cost more than gas (mind you that was back when gas was 2 bucks a gallon, not the 4-4.50 it is now in the US)
Factoring that in along with anode replacement makes those batteries sound a *LOT* less pleasant compared to gasoline.
byKotoku ( 1531373 ) writes:
A jug of distilled water is about $2. I don't know what kind of car you have where that much gas will take you 200 miles.
byHylandr ( 813770 ) writes:
I am expecting this Battery doesn't have a 15 gallons to fill either. Today's lead-water batteries only hold a couple of quarts.
I would expect the new batter to have a capacity maybe 2 to 3 times the size of a regular battery, which would be just about a gallon. Which would come to about 200 milers *per gallon*
Include a holding tank of water for refills on the road and you can extend that significantly. Perhaps even route the drip from the A/C into the tank ( or windshield reservoir ) and maybe save some we
bygirlinatrainingbra ( 2738457 ) writes:
re200 milers *per gallon*
First of all, the MPG (miles per gallon) quoted for combustion engines consuming standard gasoline or diesel gasoline are stated for the amount of miles driven per gallon of fuel expended.
.
The "gallon of water" expended is not the consumible fuel, but part of the solvent required to dissolve the metal which serves as the consumible fuel. So you're comparing apples and oranges, or to use a car analogy, you're comparing a consumible fuel (gasoline) to a solvent (distilled water) rather than comparing it to the cost of the dissolved metal electrode lost (the consumed electrode is the fuel).
.
So to get a real cost comparison, you'd have to know how many miles (M) you'll get out of the battery and what the replacement cost of the battery is (B), and add it to the cost of the "demineralized" distilled water that will have to be added until the battery needs to be replaced (will that be 100 "fill ups" or 267 fill ups and how many gallons will it be?) Say you need G gallons, and distilled water costs D per gallon. So now your miles are M, and your total cost (not counting oil, repairs, and whatnot) is B + G*D.
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So your cost per mile is M \div (B + G*D). The IRS allows you to deduct about 0.555 dollars per mile for business use, so say that a car costs in toto 55.5 cents per mile. Say you've got a car that gets 30 MPG nowadays, and gas is just under $4 per gallon. You're paying 13.33 cents per mile in consumible fuel costs for that gas combustion engine. (So the IRS is guessing that the rest of the cost for running your car [insurance, maintenance, oil changes, etc] is about 40 cents per mile). Can your electric car really come in under that cost? Tesla wants to charge $15000 for a 60kwh battery that may (only "may") last 6 or eight years. What's the replacement electrode and battery cost for this thing? When there are concrete numbers out there, then it's viability or utility can be calculated.
.
But you can't just count the cost of the distilled water or calculate a miles per gallon of distilled water when the distilled water alone is NOT the consumible fuel component!
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byHylandr ( 813770 ) writes:
It seems you're assuming (B) is the cost of an entire battery.
I would expect the consumable portion of the battery other than water would be in the form of replaceable rods or plates much like replacing a spark plug or a Diode.
They may want $15,000 for the entire battery, but the Tesla engineers are pretty bright people, and I am sure will find a solution that's easily maintainable. They must have something in mind so far, or I expect they wouldn't have taken it this far.
But you're right though, all this is
byloufoque ( 1400831 ) writes:
How many people keep a car for more than 6 years?
byrally2xs ( 1093023 ) writes:
(Hand waving wildly) Me me me me me!!!
I don't need that sort of expense any more often than I absolutely have to replace it because it is worn out, and costing me more in repairs than the new one would cost in car payments. The 2005 WRX finally got sold last year, and replaced by the 2012 WRX. I loved the 2005 WRX, and if it wasn't lunching things like the power steering pump ($525, plus $300 installation), timing belt and rollers at 210,000 miles ($1300), radiator ($400), and other stuff, I'd still have
byloufoque ( 1400831 ) writes:
If you sell your car before it is too old, you can recoup a significant portion of the money.
A car more than six years old would be difficult to sell for a good price.
bytehcyder ( 746570 ) writes:
How many people keep a car for more than 6 years?
Anyone who's not a consumerist snob or travelling salesman? Here in the UK, a lot of people do less than 5,000 miles a year, so 10 years is a more than reasonable life expectancy. Most people don't buy a new car every 2 or 3 years, there's no real need apart from showing off to the neighbours your new registration.
If you're doing 30,000 miles a year and can't afford a Mercedes, then you have a point.
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