It's been written many places that electric vehicle (EV) and Hybrid vehicle batteries are expensive to replace. The good news is that the car manufacturers usually have an 8 year, 100,000 warranty on the batteries. The bad news is that if the battery fails after the warranty expires it could cost anywhere from $3,000 to nearly $20,000 to replace. Yowza!

Many people drive their vehicles way over the 100,000 mileage mark. I met a person the other day with a Honda Civic (internal combustion engine) that had over 160,000 miles. The person plans to drive the car for many more years. Vehicles with internal combustion engines can also encounter major costs such as an engine rebuild. An internal combustion engine rebuild can cost anywhere from $2,500 to $4,000 or more depending on the car, based on a search of the Internet.

Then there is the issue of recycling and disposal of old EV and Hybrid batteries.

If batteries past their prime supply the ingredients for new ones, electric cars, trucks and vans would become more affordable and environmentally sustainable.

Fortunately, those battery ingredients are also highly reusable. And now a race is on to collect and recycle used lithium-ion batteries.

A lot will have to change between now and when EVs and Hybrid vehicles will be the norm. It's a good start, though.