We still have a while to go before an electric vehicle will have the ability to travel seamlessly across the country, but there is progress in the works. GM Ceo Dan Akerson has said his company is working on an electric car with a 200 mile battery range.
“There will be breakthroughs in battery technology, they’re on the horizon,†he said during his speech at the IHS CERAWeek energy conference. “We’re actually developing a car today which is really anathema to the way the auto industry works: We’re running a dual play on the technology to see which one will succeed. One will result in a 100-mile range, the other will be a 200-mile range.â€
The mileage bump is great news, but still not on par with the probable competition – the Tesla Model S already runs at around 300 miles a charge. However, the GM version will presumably be sold at a much more competitive price, with a more efficient battery and 15% lighter frame that may keep costs down.
Akerson’s goal is to have 500,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2017, including plug-in hybrids and purely electric vehicles. The Spark EV is the next 100% electric GM vehicle scheduled for release, getting about 75-80 miles a charge, so perhaps the 200-miler won’t be too far behind it. Obviously there is still work to be done with sources for the power grid before we have clean EVs – plugging them into grids powered by fossil fuels isn’t exactly ideal – but adding to the mileage EV’s can get on a single charge is an encouraging step in the right direction.
Image CC licensed by Michael Gil: Chevy Spark
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