19 years to recoup Volt costs?
Today, the Boston Consulting Group released a study on plug-in vehicles that suggests, as have many studies recently, that plug-in adoption will by stymied by cost-ineffectiveness for some time.
To achieve critical mass, BCG cites the $250 kwh threshold that automakers claim will be required to make plug-in vehicles cost-effective. Unfortunately, the study finds that without a major breakthrough in lithium chemistry, such a threshold will be impossible to achieve. Currently, according to BCG, such a breakthrough is not on the horizon.
Therefore, while battery costs could decrease by as much as 65 percent by 2020, that would only take battery costs to $400 per kwh.
Without a major battery breakthrough, or a run on oil that pushes costs from $100 per barrel to $375 per barrel, BCG suggests either making the $7500 plug-in tax credit permanent, or increasing the gas tax by 210 percent as ways to make plug-ins cost-competitive.
