The guess in articles I read was around $50,000
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washbizblog/2008/11/value_added_a_trip_to_the_auto.html
Granted, this is dated information, but it’s the real reason why electric cars and series hybrids are so much more expensive then parallel hybrids and even high end gasoline powered cars. It has nothing to do with advanced technology and complexity. Toyota services their parallel hybrids like common internal combustion cars while the potential for a Volt service with much range over 50 miles is near zero for most commuter applications. http://www.chicagopriusgroup.com/the-prius/prius-service-guide.htm The technology in a Prius is so much more then in a Volt, it’s like night and day. Heck, there are more serviceable items in a Yaris then a Volt used for short commutes, which is granted, the most severe service for any car…guess where profit is for the average dealer ? Dah.http://carleasingmadesimple.com/business-car-leasing/chevrolet/volt/service-interval-miles/
Even Teslar threatens you with loss of warranty if you don’t come in yearly for a $600 maintenance or inspection…coercion is the name of the game when it comes to profitizing EVs and series hybrids.
REMEMBER…“Dealers sell cars at low and nearly break even profits to develope a long term relationship so customers will come back for service” Electric cars and series hybrids with range do little for dealers and parts manufacturers. Everyone needs “front end profit” from these cars. When or if car makers ever sell EVs or longer range series hybrids cheaply, they will be sold factory direct or from factory stores like Apple and soon to be opened Microsoft stores model. Most Dealers can’t afford to deal them, both on the “front and back end”. Don’t hold your breath !
"jtsanders
More like the car guys are forced into it to meet the sky-high CAFE levels in the near future. "
Not really.
54.5 mpg is the requirement for 2025. But that 54.5 mpg is measured differently than what you see in the window of a car. You can generally divide whatever the sticker says by 0.7 to get an idea of how it might really count towards CAFE requirements. So a 4 cylinder 2013 Nissan Altima actually is counted as if it gets about 44 mpg. A Ford Focus SFE counts around 47 mpg. A 2013 Ford Fusion hybrid comes in at around 67 mpg.
You don’t need to go to plugins to average 54.5 mpg for the new CAFE standards.
“Electric cars and series hybrids with range do little for dealers and parts manufacturers”.
@dagosa–I think you have something here. I think about what has happened to the appliance repair business and television repair business. This has dropped way off in the last 20 years. There isn’t much to service on a refrigerator–either it works or it doesn’t. When it doesn’t work, it is replaced. The big screen televisions only have 3 parts–the power supply board, the driver board and the display. Our television developed a problem under warranty and the technician serviced a 7 county area. In the future, auto servicing may go the same route.
Possibly. Of course, a standard basic refrigerator/freezer from GE cost $288.88 in 1960, $499.95 in 1980, and $849.99 today. Adjusted for inflation, those prices are $2,258.41, $1,404.03, and $849.99, respectively. We don’t tend to repair them anymore because they’re so cheap to buy new that they are cheaper to replace than to fix. (note: I do repair my own appliances whenever possible, since they are generally easy to fix, but a few things, like a refrigerator compressor, would mean the appliance would just be replaced).
So to see a similar trend to appliances, you would have to expect electric cars and series hybrids to come way down in price.
I actually don’t think they will actually mean the death of service and parts - just a change in the business model. With higher upfront costs, we’ll demand that the vehicles last longer (which vehicles in general already are doing, driving the inflation adjusted yearly cost over the life of the vehicle to near record lows)… that means we’ll want to replace the motors and batteries if they wear. A lower frequency of needs for parts may change how those parts are distributed (much like the TV repairman or how Netflix and Redbox disrupted video rental businesses), but there still will be needs for parts. Heck, even as vehicle reliability and longevity has soared over the past 20 years, I see more and more parts stores around simply because people are keeping the vehicles on the road.
And suspensions really haven’t changed. And that’s what I spend most of my time fixing here, thanks to these lousy roads. 
We don't tend to repair them anymore because they're so cheap to buy new that they are cheaper to replace than to fix
And the nice things about appliances from that era…was they were built a LOT better. Just 2 years ago I finally got rid of a 60yo refrigerator from Hotpoint. It was still running when I took it to the salvage yard. I got it from my aunt when I moved out on my own after college some 35+ years ago. She never put a dime into it. I used it as my main refrigerator for 5 years…then it went to the cellar for things like beverages. It stayed running all that time (with the exception of the occasional power outage. And I never put one dime into it. It just ran and ran and ran for over 60 years.
Today - you’re very lucky to get 10 years out of a refrigerator.
"And the nice things about appliances from that era…was they were built a LOT better. "
Granted Mike. The issue though has seldom been about the electric motor, now or then. It about the electronic controls vs manual controls and drive system…as well as the suspension.
Regardless how you cut it, one of the most frequent maintenance items listed is still oil and fluid changes in cars. Let’s see; how many of those apply to the electric car ? None, zippo, zilch !!! It’s also interesting to note that the Teslar yearly maintenance requirement is based upon time, not miles. That is an indication that the $600 is a fee for ownership and warranty cost, not a real service charge.
It’s all about the monthly service charge not the cost to buy. Ask the satellite dish companies who install your receiver for free, just to get your monthly charge. Or cell phone companies, or Apple/Microsoft in general. The world is filled with monthly fees and updates.
That’s what car buying is all about. Monthly car payments, insurance, gas and maintenance are where the profits for car and peripheral industries lie. The EV and series hybrid with range don’t deliver on two accounts. ie; higher initial price to off set the loss. It’s simple math.
The issue though has seldom been about the electric motor, now or then.
Unfortunately that’s not true. Mainly because the appliance manufacturers use motors that are notoriously too small. My last too refrigerators that died…all had motor issues. One died at 6 years…the other at 10 years.
Regardless how you cut it, one of the most frequent maintenance items listed is still oil and fluid changes in cars. Let's see; how many of those apply to the electric car ? None, zippo, zilch !!!
A properly designed and built electric motor should last 10-10- times longer then any ice engine.
I remember years ago going through some locks in upstate NY on my brother-in-law’s boat. Was talking with the lock operator. The pumps were run by the 70+ yo GE electric motors. They’re serviced about every 10 years…and it’s a minimal cost. Basically just new bushings.
A Caddy for $50 k with a 50 mile range won’t either.
I agree. You start askin’ me to pay 50 grand for a car, I start lookin’ at a Boxster.
MikeInNH… "Unfortunately that’s not true. Mainly because the appliance manufacturers use motors that are notoriously too small. My last too refrigerators that died…all had motor issues. One died at 6 years…the other at 10 years. "
Do you think you should check the brands you are buying ? Never had a motor issue in 20 year old washing machines, dryers, fridges and well pumps. Or, we live a charmed life…Maine is much more appliance friendly then NH. You guys have a greater average family income and can well afford the replacement costs. Appliance makers know that stuff ! Mainers are all too poor and/or cheap. Or. we don’t wash our clothes as much and depend upon refrigeration. We are more used to eating spoiled food.
You can get a lobster dinner for 9 bucks. You can eat like kings and pay like paupers. 
All very interesting and have nothing to add except you may want to check for voltage fluxuations from your electric supplier. Seems especially out east, voltages vary so much they take out motors and sensitive electronic equipment. Even in Minnesota we’ve had that problem. No one ever notices because no one monitors the voltage but can easily vary 10-15 volts.
I’m not sure there is a difference in appliance life between today’s appliances and those from the “good old days”. My parents bought a new refrigerator in 1950 and it croaked in 1957. I bought a new refrigerator in 1987 and it handed in its resignation as a refrigerator in 1995. However, its replacement is still going strong after 17 years. We build a new house in 1989 and the dishwasher and range are still operating. Our washing machine is about 20 years old and has never had to be repaired. We did have a problems with our first flat screen LCD television. Our dog “buried” a ceramic bone under a towel he took out of his bed and took it to the family room. He then grabbed one end of the towel and his ceramic bone went right into the flat screen. There was a black hole in the middle of the screen when we turned on the set. It was cheaper to replace the set than get a new flat screen display. The new set has more features and a bigger screen and cost 1/3 of what the first set cost. (the dog was prohibited from watching “Animal Planet”, “Dog Whisperper” and reruns of “Lassie” for a month).
Cars have certainly become more reliable and more economical to operate over the last 50 year period when I have owned cars. I would bet that a series hybrid system will make the cars even more trouble free.
Series hybrids are the norm in equipment. Essentially, many skidders, hrdrostatic tractors, excivators, dozers etc. use hydraulic motors as drive motors and the ICE is just used to pressurize the system. This is the same as just using the motor on a car to generate power for an electric motor…all done for maximum reliability and efficiency. I would love to have a series hybrid truck. The military is now venturing into that mode.
Wish I could send my next truck or car out to bid and have "the public " pay for it with their taxes.
MikeInNH -
I’d wager that hotpoint was an outlier. I worked one summer for an appliance store some 20+ years ago. We rarely pulled anything out of a house that was older than the mid 70s in terms of age. We rarely pulled anything out of a house that was under 10 years old, either.
I did have to pull out a mid 50s deep chest freezer out of a basement once. Thankfully it was on a farm, and the owner of the house had some nice heavy lumber, some good chains, and a tractor with a forklift attachment he let us borrow. That thing weighed darned close to a ton and pulling it up the cellar stairs without the tractor would have been near impossible… much less loading it onto our truck, which didn’t have a hydraulic lift.
Do you think you should check the brands you are buying ?
I’ve tried 3 different brands…There aren’t too many manufacturers of appliances these days. Different brands…but many are made by the same company.
I’ve had motor problems with GE, Amana and Maytag. Not one motor lasted more then 7 years. The GE motor lasted 5 years. A woman I work with - Husband owns an appliance repair shop. He’s the one who told me about the motor problem. Companies are trying to meet the Energy Star rating are putting too small motors in.
MikeInNh…guess I’ll stick with my older stuff then. They must be shipping the duds to NH. I don’t doubt what you say. Maybe smaller loads and use a clothes line in the summer ?
Thanks Dagosa -Kevin
MikeInNH -
Of course Maytag and Amana are the same company (now).
I would never recommend GE appliances from what I’ve seen. Whirlpool (which now owns Maytag and Amana) tends to make good stuff where its little things that break and are repairable. Sloppy design but stuff you can work around - like the auger drum on the ice dispenser in my refrigerator. It fractured and that seems to be a common problem on their refrigerators. However, it was only a $10 part and an easy DIY repair.
As for the motor size issue, I don’t buy it. Energy Star is a near useless program nowadays, IMO. All an appliance needs to be rated energy star is 20% less energy consumption than their “standard” which is now over 20 years old. Anymore, nearly all refrigerators on the market are labeled energy star, the mark is so easy to hit.
Looking back at Consumer Reports’ repair records from 1992, when Energy Star was created, to 2010, in fact, I see general improvements in reliability. For the brands (all top-freezer) that existed in both charts, not a single one slipped in reliability over those 18 years. Only Kenmores without icemakers treaded water. Those without icemakers on average went from a 10.25% repair rate to a 3.75% repair rate. With icemakers they improved from 19.25% to 8.75%. So even if they are putting on smaller motors, it doesn’t seem to be hurting their overall reliability.
As for the motor size issue, I don't buy it. Energy Star is a near useless program nowadays, IMO.
I’m not sure it’s valid either…HOWEVER…I had 3 refrigerators motors die over the past 20 years. What ever the reason…the motors were the problems with the refrigerator.
As for Maytag…I take it you never heard of their Neptune line??? We bought their Neptune washer and dryer. BEST washer I ever had for cleaning clothes…and by far the WORSE I ever owned for reliability. Repair after repair after repair. I ended up buying the service manual (first service manual for an appliance I ever bought). Wife got so pissed one day…within days after my last fix…something else broke. And if you did a google search on that washer you’ll find complaint after complaint after complaint. There were 4 major design defects with that washer and after I repaired my 3rd…we gave up.
So far we’ve been happy with our LG appliances. But we’ll see how they last. Just haven’t been impressed with appliances in the past 20+ years.