10 Reasons Electric Cars Still Haven’t Taken Off

10. Charging Stations

While car companies have made major strides forward in the development of electric cars, most major cities in the U.S. (and elsewhere) don’t have the infrastructure to support these vehicles yet. By that we mean that there aren’t enough charging stations around where people can boost the rechargeable battery that powers their electric car. While there’s a gas station on just about every corner, charging stations are still few and far between. And this means that electric cars can become stranded if the battery becomes depleted. One of the big hurdles for the auto industry to overcome is installing the infrastructure needed to support all the electric cars that are on the roads and highways now, and all the potential electric cars in the future. After all, an electric car is not much use if there’s nowhere to charge the battery. This brings us to the next problem…

9. Charging Time

How long does it take to fill your car with gas? A couple minutes? Five, at most? Well, the average time it takes to recharge a fully depleted electric car battery is one-to-three hours. In some instance, it can take six-to-eight hours to fully recharge an electric car battery. So, even if we are able to install charging stations in more places, the length of time it would take to recharge the battery in an electric car is still a major issue. I mean what are you going to do? Have a nap in your back seat while your car powers up at the charging station? “Yeah, that’s okay. I’ll just get home from the grocery store tomorrow. No problem.”

While companies such as Tesla have made major improvements to the batteries used in electric cars, charging these batteries remains a major hurdle and key reason why consumers are reluctant to embrace electric vehicles. Key will be developing a battery that can be charged quickly – like instantaneously. Tesla is also working on rolling Super Chargers, which can charge batteries 16 times faster. However, they only exist in a small number of locations.

8. Green-ish

Conventional wisdom is that electric cars are “green,” as in good for the environment. But hold on a second. Most electricity grids used to charge the batteries in electric cars are powered by fossil fuels such as coal. This means that the more electric car batteries being charged, the more fossil fuels needed to power the grid. This means more coal being shoveled into power plants to generate the needed electricity for these so called “green cars.” In recent years, many environmental groups and advocates have moved away from fully endorsing electric cars, and the lack of endorsement hasn’t gone unnoticed by consumers who can be influenced by these type of environmental stamps of approval. Trading refined oil for electricity powered by coal isn’t exactly a perfect improvement.

7. Range

Another big issue with electric cars is their range. By this, we mean how far the car can travel on a single battery charge. Again, advancements in this area have been made in recent years , and technology is always getting better, but currently most electric cars can travel somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50-90 miles on a single battery charge. That might be okay of you live downtown and don’t drive very far, very often. But you won’t be taking the family on a cross country summer road trip in an electric car any time soon. Add in the previously mentioned lack of charging stations, as well as the overly long time it take to recharge an electric car battery, and, in many respects, electric cars do not look like a very practical choice for today’s busy consumers who are constantly on the move.

6. Performance

A big complaint among car reviewers is that electric cars just aren’t much fun to drive. The engine performance is weak, there’s practically no pick-up, or oomph, you can’t go very fast on a highway, the handling can be hit-and-miss, and the car’s battery is dead before you know it. For these reasons, many professionals in the automotive industry grumble that electric cars suffer from a lack of performance. You just can’t do a lot of the things with an electric car that you can do with a traditional gas fueled car. And, let’s face it, most cars are sold (to a large degree) based on their performance. Watch a car commercial and you’ll see pick-up trucks climbing mountains, sports cars taking sharp turns, and SUVs carrying an extended family through a wooded valley and splashing across rivers. You don’t really see commercials for electric cars. But if you did, they wouldn’t be doing any of these fun things.

5. Battery Replacement

Even if you were to save money on gasoline by driving an electric car, after a few years you will need to replace the battery in the vehicle and that is not cheap. Currently electric car batteries cost somewhere between $500 to more than $1,000 to replace. That’s a lot more than the batteries used in conventional cars. While some governments have incentives and rebate programs available to help cover the costs of initially purchasing an electric car and replacing the battery, these programs offer token returns at best. They are not generous enough to significantly offset the cost of replacing an electric car battery. Also, some electric car batteries that are advertised as lasting two-to-three years have been found to only last one year depending on how frequently the electric car is used. This means consumers could be shelling out big bucks for new batteries sooner, and more often, than expected.

4. Extra Costs

Replacing the car battery isn’t the only big additional cost that comes with owning an electric car. Your home garage or driveway also needs to be outfitted as a de facto car battery charging station. This means buying and installing all the charging equipment needed, and that can cost as much as $2,500, or more. Plus you need to keep this equipment operational and running as intended, and that means regular maintenance and technicians, and that costs money too. In the end, many consumer advocates question how much money anybody who chooses to buy an electric car will really save. The additional costs for operating an electric car are pretty steep and ongoing, and that makes it a problem for cost conscious consumers, even with the environmental benefits.

3. Style

Tesla is doing its best to make electric cars more stylish and cool looking. The company’s Model 3 electric car, unveiled earlier this year, is a major leap forward. However, the reality is that many electric cars on the market today look like the Nissan Leaf and Renault Twizy, and they are neither stylish nor cool. This makes marketing electric cars to image conscious consumers difficult – especially when it comes to the younger drivers that marketers and advertisers covet. Many automotive industry analysts agree that for electric cars to really take hold and become main stream, they will need to become more stylish and cool looking. Adding some sex appeal to electric cars could help these vehicles mightily. After all, a lot of people identify themselves by the vehicle they drive. And what does a Renault Twizy say about you?

2. Gas Prices

Consumers aren’t buying electric cars in great numbers on their own. To get there, consumers will need a push. And most analysts agree that the push will come once gasoline prices become too high for a sustained period. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened yet. While gas prices do spike upwards, they also come down just as fast, and, to date, gas prices haven’t reached a point where consumers find them unsustainable and are willing to make a change. How long it will take for gas prices to get to a tipping point with motorists remains to be seen. But the consensus view is that the costs of owning a traditional gas fueled car will need to be much higher than the costs of owning and operating an electric vehicle for consumers to make the switch in sizable numbers.

1. Sticker Price

The bottom line is that the cost of buying an electric car is just too damn high. Tesla changed the electric car industry with its Model S. But that model cost $80,000! True, the Tesla Model 3 is going to be cheaper, but it still starts around $35,000. Add in the additional costs to own and keep an electric car charged, and you can see how many people find electric cars unaffordable. Especially when they can get an equivalent sized traditional vehicle for less than $15,000 – and that’s brand new. The price point of electric cars is the single biggest thing holding these vehicles back and preventing them from gaining widespread acceptance. Until the price is adjusted, and electric cars become more affordable, consumers aren’t likely to buy these vehicles in droves. Sure, we all like the idea of being environmentally responsible. But at what price? New technology is always super expensive at first, but the electric car revolution won’t really begin until the prices are comparable.