Battery problems for electric cars

Washington Post:

...

... while battery technology has traveled far from the big clunkers in the late 1990s, the costs and limits of current batteries remain the biggest obstacles to mass marketing plug-in vehicles. Although nearly every major auto company is moving ahead with electric car plans, the batteries still cost about $8,000 or more each, experts estimate, and that could make electric cars money-losers. Moreover, electric carmakers warn, the industry's manufacturing capacity is limited, and few factories are in the United States.

...
While they have somewhat reduced the size of the batteries and the weight the cost is a killer not only for the initial purchase price, but think about having to fork you another $8,000 when the battery quits operating after about five years. That would be a very nasty surprise that would overwhelm any savings on the cost of fuel.

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