SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Electric car sales could jump to 86 percent of U.S. light vehicle sales in 2030 if customers don't have to purchase batteries themselves, according to a University of California, Berkeley study to be released on Monday.
A company named Better Place and emerging competitors plan to offer pay-per-mile plans, similar to cell phone minutes. A family would buy a car but Better Place would own the battery, offer charging stations, and swap out batteries as required extending the driving range.
The cost of constructing charging systems will be more than $320 billion over the next couple of decades, although health-related savings due to less vehicle pollution could be $210 billion, according to the study by economist Thomas Becker.
The main advantage to drivers would be cars with price tags and operating costs similar to or less than gasoline models.
Renault-Nissan is manufacturing cars for the Better Place project. Better Place has said its system would be cheaper than using gasoline. The Berkeley analysis predicted the per-mile cost of making and charging batteries, including the cost of constructing a charging system, would be similar to or piercingly less than a gasoline car, depending mainly on whether prices of petrol rise.
Hence most of the car transport companies hope for more electric cars to be shipped from 2030 onwards.
