With the Tesla, and any other EV using multitudes of individual batteries, the "devil is in the details" . Each 'cell' has to be current limited, & have some sort of cell balance mechanism engineered into it, for charging, as well as delivering the current.

Note the title of the sub-forum:-

Manufacturing in America and Europe
Discuss global manufacturing and it's effects

Some of us don't live in the US and some of us also work for companies that span the entire world.


Side note:- an electric motor with a 90% efficiency is only usable in toys.

and i assume you believe there are better available atm?
They are far from toys, producing equivalent of a 2 hp motor
and i would assume holding onto your manufacturing base would interest you know matter what the country or company you work for .
If you read the post you would see that is the current trend they are working on same motor and controller type

I'm sorry, but you're not even close to being right. Subsidies will help increase demand for a product, and the increase in demand helps bring down the cost over time. No single tax payer (at least 99.999999999999999999% of taxpayers) pays for the entire subsidy in their taxes, so that argument doesn't hold water either.

Irrelevant to an Electric car. Traction motors that have a 90% efficiency just don't get used in full sized applications.

In China, were there is some much growth, the really big story is in the GROWTH of electric bicycles. DC motors in the front or rear wheel, smart control electronics, and really good batteries... Lead Acid in that application have a use life of 200 charges typically... a LiFePO4 battery is said to have average life of 2000 charges...

the changes are driven by Cell Phones, Notebook Power Packs, and spinoff battery development from electric cars...

If you look at a prototypical car company, they are good at incremental development. Whether US or anywhere.

Since you REALLY want a disruptive types solution - then you must certainly look elsewhere for innovation...

Getting an Electric car for less than $30K is not a problem... getting it from a traditional supplier will be....

I don't see the limiting factor being the cost - it is more in who you are expecting to deliver the product - and standards that will be applied...

An eBike now is fairly inexpensive in China. If I want one here, I would expect to pay about $140 for the motor/electronics. The Battery - well it can be a variety of sources... I would want 10-20 AHr of 36V power... 5 would do in a pinch... So that can cost quite a bit in China as well...

I am sure that someone else can provide better numbers on cost. Shipping is still a real problem for just buying a single eBike's worth of electronics...

When you look at an electric car from this angle... It is NOT SO COMPLICATED... and has more to do with incremental Cell Phone Technology applied to automotives...

So I can see a short range vehicle - with basic batteries - coming in at 6-10K. If you want to charge more, then that is for all the "other" car cost junk....

Of a $30K car, how much is actually the car? and how much is the rest of the infrastructure sales network? That is another issue...

--jerry