$7500 NIMH battery?

I test drove a Vextrix electric scooter yesterday. I was impressed by its' performance and was even okay with the almost $9k price tag (even though I hear gasoline equivalent scooters cost around $5k). It has a top speed of 62 mph, has very good acceleration and the range and charge time is quite acceptable too. It even looks nice . . . you have to almost do a double take to see it's not a real motorcycle (but I'm sure you'll still get beat up at biker bars if you show up on one of these!).

However, the huge deal-breaker for me was when the dealership said the battery replacement cost was around $5000. They said the battery should last around 15000 miles with full performance.

So I emailed the company and first asked them what the battery replacement costs because I was sure the dealer had it wrong. I was correct . . . the dealer had it wrong. The company said battery replacement is $6000 to $7500 !!! What's that . . . 90 percent the cost of the whole machine? I doubt the Prius battery costs that much to replace!

I thought NIMH's were simple and cheap? They begged me to call them so they could "explain" but I told them they lost me when I thought it was $5k. They said the battery should last 10 years or 50k miles . . . sure, if you don't mind a top speed of 20 mph after 15000 miles. Rechargeables, especially ones put under that kind of heavy strain, have a performance curve that mimicks alkalines in a flashlight.

I know a fair amount about rechargeables but a big NIMH, perhaps something the size of one or two lead acid car batteries . . . should that cost that much? And if that were true, how come this machine isn't $15000? It's my suspicion they're just planning on people not doing this type of homework and then socking it to them later when they need a battery in 3 years. It's too bad because this thing is going to be HUGE and we (we as in all of us) could really use something like this.

I do think they're gouging users on the battery, although I suspect as electric vehicles and hybrids become common there will be much cheaper aftermarket batteries. It may also be possible to make a battery pack yourself if you can determine what type of cells are used. Honestly, 15,000 miles seems like a horrible lifetime. A battery should last the expected life of the vehicle.

Don't sweat it. Like LEDs, electric vehicles and the parts associated with them are on a steep curve of declining cost/increasing performance. I'd love to have one of these also, but not until the price drops considerably.

I agree with jtr1962. !5,000 lifetime is ridiculous.
There is something wrong with that equation. The NIMH's in many of the RAV4EV's have gone over 8 years and over 100K.

And this is why I don't like the trend of small battery-powered vehicles. Gas scooters like Lambrettas and Vespas are still on the road after 40+ years.

I doubt most people will bother to replace the battery in one of these things when it's time, and if they do some other electronic part will probably fail. Lots of materials wasted to end up getting scrapped.

Just to clarify . . . . 15000 miles was what the dealer said. I called them 3 weeks ago because they were listed as a dealer on the mfg's site and they thought I was crazy . . . . "what's a Vectrix?" "No we're not selling electric scooters." I'm not sure where they got 15000 miles from.

The mfg says 50,000 miles/10 years. However, they only warranty it for 2 years (I don't know how many miles offhand . . I'll edit this if I find it).

One of the reason the NiMH batteries last so long in the Prius is that they only cycle them between something like 40-60% or so charge--fully charging, deep discharging are what kill NiMH battery life.

Also, in California, the battery is considered an "emissions control device" and must be guaranteed by the manufacturers for 150,000 miles (and ten years?) for 100% parts and labor...

Would be interesting how California sees the battery in an electric motor cycle--probably not the same thing.

-Bill