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How will electric cars 'die'?

Arran Cameron

Has much research been carried out into what happens to electric cars as they age and how they eventually ‘die’?

There are several potential possibilities including:

1 The bodywork rusts away. Theoretically the same as for an ICE car, but will electric cars be on average more or less rust prone than ICE cars due to differences in the internal structure of the bodyshell?

2 Wear to suspension and steering components. Theoretically the same as for an ICE car. A common MOT failure that can be expensive to repair.

3 A catastrophic failure of the inverter and the cost of repair or replacement. Inverters are heavily stressed subassemblies that appear to have a finite life. Will power semiconductors and other components likely to break down with prolonged use be available and realistically replaceable, or will inverters be deliberately designed in order that failed components cannot be economically replaced?

4 Electronic systems failures where replacement is uneconomical. Theoretically similar for a modern ICE car.

5 The battery. High cost of replacement plus potential obsolescence (like try finding a replacement battery for a power tool from the 1990s) could sound the death knell of a 15 year old car that works just as good as the day it was new.

Will electric cars ever reach ‘banger’ status where it's possible to buy a >10 year old car for under £2000 and run it for 2 to 3 years? There are many people who subscribe to bangernomics, for one reason or another, but will it continue into the electric era or will a situation arise where it's impossible to buy a working electric car with a working battery for less than £10,000?

Will electric cars ever reach classic status where it's possible to buy a >25 year old car that can still be driven?

Could a situation arise where governments control the supply of batteries for electric cars and ‘tax’ them in a certain way to make up for the loss in fuel duty?

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    I always visualised having standard batteries assemblies, maybe 3 or 4 different sizes for different size cars.  

    When your battery start to get low the display in your car would indicate to you the nearest automated swap centre (old petrol station), when you accept the recommendation the swap centre expects you and is ready with a replacement battery.  You then drive over swapping station where underground machinery will swap your battery automatically for a fully charged one, the old one would then go into stock and be charged.  

    You could chose to have a premium battery, say has had less than 300hr use, a standard up to 1,000hr or economy over 1,000 hours use, payment would be taken automatically.

    Swap time less than 2 minutes and all electrical systems (except traction) maintained whilst you wait!  Bit like a pit stop.

    Then again, maybe like CFL lamps, batteries are not the future and just a very expensive government initiative that cost the tax payers billions of pound in subsidies and grants for 3 or 4 years until the private sector comes up with the equivalent of LED lamps.

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    I always visualised having standard batteries assemblies, maybe 3 or 4 different sizes for different size cars.  

    When your battery start to get low the display in your car would indicate to you the nearest automated swap centre (old petrol station), when you accept the recommendation the swap centre expects you and is ready with a replacement battery.  You then drive over swapping station where underground machinery will swap your battery automatically for a fully charged one, the old one would then go into stock and be charged.  

    You could chose to have a premium battery, say has had less than 300hr use, a standard up to 1,000hr or economy over 1,000 hours use, payment would be taken automatically.

    Swap time less than 2 minutes and all electrical systems (except traction) maintained whilst you wait!  Bit like a pit stop.

    Then again, maybe like CFL lamps, batteries are not the future and just a very expensive government initiative that cost the tax payers billions of pound in subsidies and grants for 3 or 4 years until the private sector comes up with the equivalent of LED lamps.

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