More rebate money coming your way if you are in SoCal

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Zago

Active member
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
39
A family member keeps telling me how expensive it will be after the warranty is over and I have to purchase a new battery...

I told him after 100,000 miles I would have saved enough money on gas plus the money from the clean air rebate, that should cover it "IF" I have to replace the battery, and today a got to show him some more rebate money coming my way....

https://www.scecleanfuel.com/

Hurray!!!
 
You probably wont' need to replace the battery (assuming you actually do keep the car for 100,000 miles). The battery will merely degrade, the extent of which is unknown, I wouldn't count on GM providing cheap replacement batteries, even if the price per kWh of lithium batteries continues to decline.

I prefer to run the math in terms of ROI...how many miles you need to drive for the car to essentially pay for itself from the savings of not having to buy gasoline, oil changes, and other ICE related maintenance such as timing belt, water pump, fuel pump, etc.. I had a 2004 Audi wagon that I sold last summer that I drove for 105,000 miles. Based on what I paid for my EV...I figure that If I do drive it for 100,000 miles; the car roughly pays for itself...that is of course comparing it that Audi that only returns about 19 mpg and runs on premium gasoline. I'd have to drive a lot more miles to get my money back if I did the same comparison with my VW diesel that returns 40 mpg.

Remember to take the cost of electricity and public charging into consideration. A buddy of mine in Carlsbad drives a Model X with a 90kWh battery. He can pay up to ~$0.40 per kWh charging at home depending on TOU rates, so theoretically up to 36 bucks for a "fill up". Not a ton of savings there vs gasoline. Electricity is comparably cheap where I live. Last month's spot rate was $0.028 per kWh. That same 90 kWh charge would only cost $2.52 here in Alberta.
 
Just signed up. Thanks OP!! I'm ineligible for the state rebate so this helps.
 
One more thing to possibly calculate - if it is applicable to the the individual: How vigilant are you with maintenance?

Over the long term, ownership of any car can depend on the habits formed early on in the ownership of it. If you are usually bad at remembering to change oil and maintain the transmission (or run in to a period of financial instability), a lower maintenance vehicle such as an EV could also pay back dividends.
 
I assume the OP bought his car (or intends to buy out his lease) because he mentions driving it for 100,000 miles. I wouldn't count on a GM cost-effective battery replacement program happening when he's ready for a new battery. I'm guessing the Bolt will be a low-volume car that sells - at most - around 30,000 units per year. New replacement batteries won't come cheap (guessing $20K?) because the demand won't be there to bring the price down on the specific GM part. There may be a few small battery shops that are able to rebuild the pack, but given the car will probably be worth ~$8,000 at 100,000 miles...would it make more sense to simply buy a low mileage, 3-year old Bolt for ~$15,000 rather than spend $20K on a replacement battery?

Again, all guesses. We've been saying that lithium ion batteries will get cheaper in the future. I think that's being reflected in the price of new EV's, but given it still costs $29,000 to put an 85kWh pack in a 2008 Tesla Roadster - I wouldn't be holding out for a low cost replacement battery for the Bolt.
 
You guys are right about the battery "unknown" condition at 100,000 miles but I'm sure I will be on my second set of seats by than :x at the current decomposition rate.

By the way, what's OP ???
 
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