Economical Analysis

A number of key economic parameters that characterize vehicles were:

• a.  Vehicle price,

b.  Fuel cost, and

c.  Driving range.

This case neglected maintenance costs; however, for the hybrid and electric vehicles, the cost of battery replacement during the lifetime was accounted for. The driving range determines the frequency (number and separation distance) of fueling stations for each vehicle type. The total fuel cost and the total number of kilometers driven were related to the vehicle life (see Table 1).

Table1: Technical and economical values for selected vehicle types

For the Honda FCX the listed initial price for a prototype leased in 2002 was USk$2,000, which is estimated to drop below USk$100 in regular production. Currently, a Honda FCX can be leased for 3 years with a total price of USk$21.6. In order to render the comparative study reasonable, the initial price of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is assumed here to be USk$100. For e lectric vehicle, the specific cost was estimated to be US$569/kWh with nickel metal hydride (NiMeH) batteries which are typically used in hybrid and electric cars.

Historical prices of typical fuels were used to calculate annual average price.