More and more venture capital is going into electric vehicle research and development.  Major media, including Fortune Magazine, Wired, Time, WSJ, Automobile Magazine and many others are touting the promising future of “EV’s.”  (Much of this “action” just in the last couple months!)

There is little question that by 2010 or so the first “pure” electrics will roll off the assembly lines of nearly a dozen companies–on their way to one day probably replacing the ICE (internal combustion engine)-powered car.

There’s only one hitch–and it ISN’T necessarily the lithium ion battery, so often discussed as the possible achilles heel of the whole EV marketing rollout. (For one thing, other battery technologies, such as NiMH and lead acid, can still power EV’s, although not as efficiently).

The hitch is really that most car buyers/consumers don’t trust car batteries in general–because they have had so much trouble with them.

In an ICE-powered car, the 12 volt lead acid house battery is truly problematic.  Probably no one who owns an older car hasn’t experienced what they at least thought was a battery failure that left them unable to start their vehicle.

It happened to me just the other day and I KNOW batteries better than most.  I was almost helpless with a dead car.  Jumps were unsuccessful and I did a lot of walking that day and next (being in a small town without extensive public transportation)–trying to arrange for towing and repair.

Turns out, it wasn’t even a battery issue, but it FELT like one when the car wouldn’t start. I knew the battery was near the end of its life and I was more than prepared to replace it.  But how can anyone really know this–and avoid a dead car in a possibly dangerous circumstance on the side of the road (or, worse, in the middle of it)?

Our experience with batteries are generally unsatisfactory, and it is–and ISN’T– our fault.  We don’t understand them so we don’t take care of them the way we should.  (Car batteries are nothing like throwaway batteries).  Many people are even afraid to check–or replace–the fluids, if they are accessible at all, much less keep active terminals clean and free of corrosion.  We subject car batteries to many stresses, including cold and hot temperatures, and yet expect them to perform flawlessly every time.  We probably wish they’d just work and recharge as dependably and simply as an electric shaver (mine has lasted years).

And because we often ignore our car battery, auto repair services are often tempted to take advantage of this naivete and neglect by insisting that a battery needs replacement–even when it may not.  (This probably costs the public many millions of dollars annually–maybe billions).

When DOES a battery need replacement?  Car indicator lights, if they exist, do not seem to be conclusive.  A battery clearly degrades over time, its plates encrusted with metallic and chemical gunk caused by constant recharging, lack of acid replenishment etc. I met a guy once who knew how to essentially recycle a battery from scratch, rather than replace it–but who wants to do that?

Long ago car makers could have done consumers a big favor by simply having a back up battery in vehicles so one could be changed out while the other was still able to start/run the car.  But penny wise, pound foolish…

So we don’t trust car batteries, and many of the electric vehicles that are actually on the road today are powered by the “old” lead acids. One example is the Toyota RAV 4 small suv–it uses DEEP CYCLE lead acids, but they are similar to car house batteries.  Gemcars, the Sparrow, and the old EV1’s used deep cycle lead acids.

And, I should add, these “EV” batteries (which are also store energy for off grid solar electric system applications), perform quite well for the money, and can have lifespans approaching five years or more–if properly taken care of.

But because of our distrust of/neglect for such batteries, when people hear about “battery electric” cars, they probably summon the ghosts of their experiences sitting next to dead cars on the side of the road.

So here is what I have done to reassure the battery-phobic public about “battery electric” cars.

Jeff Spevack is an auto mechanic (Continental Motors in San Luis Obispo, California) who also leases one of the last aforementioned Toyota Rav 4 small SUV’s that are electric.  The Rav 4 is really one of the best EV’s ever made, with an overnight chargeable range of up to 125 miles. Jeff swears by the car and commutes to work in it every day–where he works on ICE-powered cars!  (Another leased car, the EV1, was not too long ago taken from “owners” and crushed in the Arizona desert, the subject of the documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?)

I explained to Jeff  that I wanted to find out if his car had ever failed to START because of a battery problem.  (If it hadn’t that would confirm my suspicions that this is not an issue with “battery electric” cars.

Jeff said that starting an electric car motor (which is much smaller than an ICE) is no big deal, anymore than flipping a water pump switch, or turning on a vacuum cleaner (my examples).  If the car actually completely runs out of battery energy (and remember, there are 8-16 deep cycle batteries in an EV), then it will no longer move forward/reverse–and this happened to Jeff only ONCE (much as a gas powered car runs out of gas).  But an EV SHOULDN’T run out of battery power because meters clearly tell the driver how much “juice” is left–and also, it’s not a good idea to run the batteries completely down because it isn’t good for them.  (One last thing: an EV that has supposedly “run out” may still be able to go a few miles if you let the batteries rest for a period of time–try that with a gas car!).

In EV’s, some batteries within the system may occasionally fail, but they are not like a string of Christmas lights with all the power going out at once. Bad cells may affect the overall amount of “juice,” but not cripple the performance. This is something owners of EV’s with the “old” lead acids DO have to do–replace a couple batteries annually, along with the required maintenance we’ve talked about above.

But the newer EV’s, such as hybrids (if you can truly call them EV’s), have completely self-contained NiMH batteries that you never have to work on yourself, and the battery packs have 100,000 mile warranties. Some manufacturers, such as Think!,  say that they will actually lease the new lithium ion battery packs, and take full responsibility for replacing/servicing them. Imagine that, with newer EV’s you won’t have to even worry about the batteries, and the likelihood that a car WON’T START is practically nil.