I talked with one of my friends who owns an EV. We both believe that people are refraining from buying an EV for now. He argues that EV manufacturers should provide battery replacement services to attract more buyers. But I doubt it.

In fact, car makers like Tesla do provide battery replacement services. The cost is high, though. It costs about $5k to $20k to replace a battery, roughly 25% to 50% of the total purchase value of a Tesla. It makes more sense to sell the old car and purchase a new car with a new battery than to just replace the battery in the old car.

Compared with mileage, charging is a more important factor. Current Tesla Superchargers can add 200 miles in 15 minutes. It is already a decent charging speed. We can easily expect a 1/3 speed increase in the future. That will convince more people to buy a 200-mile range car and use it as a daily commuter.

The current EV industry is still in its dynamic early stage where many things could happen; the structure and capability of an EV are constantly changing. As cheaper EVs roll out and charging infrastructure gets upgraded, the need for a long-range battery will not be necessary.