What holds back electric cars? Car dealers, says VC

The cozy relationship between car dealerships and automakers will have to be changed for electric cars to take off, theorized venture capitalist Jennifer Fonstad.

A managing director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Fonstad said that Detroit automakers have created an environment--through discounts and volume buying--that make it tough for new, electric car companies to squeeze into the market.

"The tipping point will be breaking the Detroit model," she said at the Alternative Energy Innovations Conference in Redwood City, Calif. Tesla Motors, which DFJ invested in, is already trying to "change the way cars are bought and sold." It will sell cars through company-owned dealerships.

She has a point, to a degree. Car dealers do have tight relationships with their manufacturers. Also, oil companies have found ways, through contracts, to keep ethanol out of their service stations.

Then again, the performance and range of electric cars in the past has often been an issue. Both Ian Clifford (CEO of Zenn Motors) and Elon Musk (chairman of Tesla Motors) have both said that, and they both are advocates of electric cars. Zap (and Zenn) sell electric cars now, but they don't hit freeway speeds, for instance.

As a result of some of the limitations of electric cars, Fonstad said that auto companies will have to educate potential customers that not all electric cars will perform the same way as traditional cars. They may not go as far, so when people buy them they can't keep the endless road trip in their mind.

Nissan, which hopes to come out with a fully electric car in about five years, has already said it needs to kick off the educational process.

[rickr765]

Not a new problem.

Read the book "The Insolent Chariots", from 1959, and you'll be struck by how little anything has really changed in the auto industry in almost 50 years. The author particularly points to pernicious effects of the dealership situation.

[Mousefinger]

Excellent Suggestion

Excellent point. That's a great book to read.

[William Crow]

They're not ready for prime time.

You have to have your head in the sand to assume they're ready
for general use. Or maybe you're just reading the hype and not
the facts abut them.
The article itself is suggestive and misleading. People that think
we're on the cusp of an electric car revolution anytime soon will
be disappointed. And will probably blame the oil companies or
Bush for something that hasn't happened to their misguided
expectations.
I'm one of those that is not comfortable with the recent flip-flop
in regard to nuclear by those who pretend to be
environmentalists. The requirement to store nuclear waste for
100,000s of years before its safe makes me a little queazy.

[stupid_browner]

Could you stay on topic and explain yourself?

Yes, there is an issue over nuclear power. But what does that have to do with this article??
Could you please explain why you believe electric cars are not ready for general use? I know many current models can't be used as a primary vehicle due to range and speed limitations on many models but electric cars show great potential as a family's second vehicle.

[USDecliningDollar]

Bill Joy - Paving the Way

Bill Joy and his VC group Kleiner Perkins are paving the way. Interestingly, today I received an email ad from Sun - part of the ad contained a photo of an electric vehicle fueling station ... for their "radically efficient" server promo. Coincidence? I think not. KP likely has cash in Zenn and EEStor.

Hopefully, soon - EEStor and Zenn Motors will make an announcement which will take put the "range" issues to rest.

www.zenncars.com/
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9798043-7.html?tag=tb

[razor.rodriguez]

Electrics adoable, today

The range of electrics is always the issue, however, battery technology is to the point that recharge times have dwindled significantly. If they can figure out how to fully charge the batteries in less than an hour, and achieve at least a`200 mile range, then even long trips can be done. The way I see it, every rest stop in the world has electrical power available. We also have a technology called IP over power lines. Assuming the charging interface is standardized accross all cars, It wouldn't take too much to establish the the infrastructure for people to stop at a gas/rest stop, plug in their car and automatically be billed for the kilowatt/hours their car consumed while charging. The interface can be initiated as soon as the car is plugged in. Using on-line billing, the user's electric company would bill the their account directly. Even more, the user can sit in their car and surf the net while waiting for their batteries to charge. At regular highway speeds, stopping every 3-31/2 hours for a break is not a bad idea anyway. I think the time for electrics has come. We need to just embrace them and once they start being purchased by the masses, trust me, the automakers will jump on the bandwagon.

[gsmiller88]

Why not sell them at Wal-Mart?

You can get everything else there....Why not?

[lingsun]

Nodody wants the stupid things!!!!

Electric cars are a joke. Who wants a stupid golf cart? And when electric cars are charged by power plants that use fossil fuels, they don't make any sense either.

[merrick_]

Some reasons

The reason why electric cars (powered by electricity from the grid) may be preferred to gas-powered cars is that the internal combustion engine on cars are highly inefficient (around 20%). In terms of the environment, the point is that the amount of CO2 burned per mile is much lower for electric cars, even if the source comes from coal-burning power plants due to efficiencies. Then, there are fiscal reasons.

Hummer ad execs may have some convinced that tanks are necessary to get from point A to B (and to maintain manhood), but for many people a golf cart (not that the analogy fits anyways) would be just fine.

[oldtimefarmer]

electrics

As I see it the only thing holding back electrics as well as other technologies like E85 and propane powered vehicles is the network of service stations that petroleum vehicles have. If one could exchange depleted battery packs for fully charged ones and just pay for the difference in the potential of the charged ones rather than having to take the time to charge a pack of buy a new one and if this sevice was available everywhere like gasoline, petroleum would loose a lot of its advantage.

[theBike45]

Electric cars are the problem

This is a birdbrained article that makes the same mistake that the film "Who Killed the Electric car?" makes - it assumes that electric cars are ready for prime time and there must be other reasons consumers aren't beating down the dealer doors demanding EVs. The simply fact is that an all-electric car is totally impractical at the present time. Unless you want an impotent, expensive vehicle that can only handle relatively short commutes and exist as a second car, an all electric is a waste of money, time and effort. The only practical electrified autos that will be available in th enear future are plug-ins. They can accomplish 95% of what all-electrics can and don't require consumer sacrifices and the headaches of owning (and paying for) an all-electric. Wait for the Chevy VOLT in 2010, or the Chinese BYD a bit before then, and you'll have a car actually worth owning that can avoid virtually all visits to the gas station. The all-electrics out there today only exist because of
the hysteria over global warming. They are not viable alternatives to the gasoline powered automobile. Whenever battery prices come down (way down) and batteries can be recharged in a few minutes, all-electrics will take over. But not before then. The economics simply aren't there. Period.

[drivin98]

Horaay!

There have been electric cars for a hundred years. And there are great reasons some people would prefer electric cars over gasoline powered ones. It's not all about "global warming hysteria".
Today, there are thousands of electric cars on the road. Some of us aren't waiting for GM or Nissan to figure it out.
Does the "period" at the end of your comment mean you've made your point and aren't going to post any more of your hysterics? Horaay!

[Neo Con]

You tell me

Car #1:
-Costs $60,000
-Seats 2
-Runs 100 miles on 1 charge
-Takes 4 hours to charge
-Battery must be replaced every 3-4 years for several thousand dollars
-Maintenance costs are astronomical

Car #2:
-Costs $20,000
-Seats 5
-Runs 400 miles on 1 "charge"
-Takes 5 minutes to "charge"
-Battery must be replaced every 5 years for a cost of $200
-Maintenance costs are reasonable
-Oh, yeah, and it pisses off enviro-mental nut-jobs

Which would you prefer?

[WDS2]

Your forget...

...the one thing that will really matter to people: the cost per mile to operate. I have no idea what that is for an electric car but for a gasoline car it is an ever upward spiral.

[Dean_Ansari]

There are practical/better alternatives to an all Electric car

1st- How can Mrs. Fonstad state that:
"The cozy relationship between car dealerships and automakers will have to be changed for electric cars to take off, theorized venture capitalist Jennifer Fonstad"

When there are NO practical all Electric cars available for purchase!!!

2nd- People are desperate for cars that get better and better gas mileage as CLEARLY evident by the Tremendous & NEVER SEEN before sales record of Toyota Prius which just past 1 Million cars sold. Of which 1 Mill I have purchased 2 myself
for our house-hold.

3rd- We have the technology today to make cars that get 500 Miles per Gallon.
That would be a plug-in Hybrid.
However VCs are not making the capital available to do so. Instead they back up impractical
designs for a fuel efficient cars such as the impractical Tesla Motors which is an all Electric
car that costs $100K. I mean who wants an all Electric car that costs $100K, is limited to a driving distance of max 200 Miles, when you can have a Plug-in Hybrid that gets 500 Miles per Gallon, costs $25K and you have no distance limitations!!

And if you think plug-in Hybrid that gets 500 MPG and costs $25K and seats 4 to 5 and has no distance limitations is not possible, give me $100Mill and I will have it out for
you in 2 years max. And it will then sell 1Mill units faster than Prius did.

[acampbell333]

LOL the debate rages on while I'm driving all the way to the bank

You guys keep fighting about what people should drive and guessing at the limitations and potentials of electric transportation. I'm driving an electric car every day and loving it.

[tarrith]

This may change your mind...

All these complaints about range and EV's will never blah blah blah.
Will one of these change your mind?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eestor
No it's not a battery, it's a capacitor.
Capacitors soak up electricity fast and release it at a rate specified.

I hope it makes all you negative people choke on your words or on your cars emissions...oh that's right you already are choking on it, silly me.

[elektrikcar]

Elektrikcar.com a new electric vehicle start up

Please check our EV company's website: http://www.elektrikcar.com

We plan to design, manufacture and market electric vehicles to the public.

Please let me know of your thoughts.

The Team at Elektrikcar.com