“Can electric vehicles change the game?” That’s the question Edison Electric Institute President Tom Kuhn poses this week on National Journal’s energy blog.  

I answer in the negative, pointing out, for example, that even if electric vehicle battery prices drop by 65%, the five-year fuel savings would not offset the additional up-front purchase price unless oil hits $280 a barrel (according to Boston Consulting Group).  You can read my response and those of other wonks and activists at NationalJournal.Com.

Here, I would like to share (with permission) the reaction of an industry expert who read the National Journal blog posts:

I think there are many problems with electric vehicles, we will find they are not any better than wind power.

They cost twice as much as equivalent gasoline vehicles. If customers won’t pay an extra 5k for a hybrid that gets 50mpg, why will they pay an extra $15-20k for an electric one?

Once we get past the first few buyers, the early intenders, we will see what true demand is.

Folks have to pay up to $2k for a home charging station if they dont want to wait 10-12 hours or more to charge it up.

A new malady will be created, range anxiety.

The volt is not a true electric vehicle, it is another form of hybrid, administration gave it the $7.5k credit anyway, which was wrong.

Cost of batteries does not go down with higher production due to the use of hard to find, expensive, rare minerals.

The concept is fine, but this is not really going to work, unless costs are similar to gas cars, range is increased to 200+, and recharge time is significantly reduced.