Also, they specifically allow only 65% of the battery to be used for driving the vehicle. This is because charging in the middle of the battery (percentage-wise) is easier than at the ends. So it increases battery life dramatically. With the 8 year, 100k mile warranty on the battery, you’re protected for quite a while. Let’s pretend worst case scenario and the battery completely fails and has to be replaced every 100k miles. With the low cost regular maintenance that is normally associated with electric vehicles, you won’t be too bad off if you’re dumping 3k into it every 100k miles. In reality, of course, it won’t be nearly that much. And in the next 5-10 years, GM is betting that battery technology is going to become much cheaper. So it might even become cheaper than the 3k subsidized price.

Battery concerns are one of the last things that should be stopping you from buying a car like this. As an owner, I’m not worried. And haven’t been given a reason to be. I personally feel that I’m better protected financially than someone who owns a gas-only vehicle that has many more moving parts that could catastrophically fail in a very expensive manner.