It's really too bad when someone misreads a price and posts that the "sky is falling" on glow fuel. Fuel is readily available from several sources and is still in the $30/gal range for what most of us use regularly. You can avoid hazmat fees from some sources by buying it in Qt bottles by the case instead of gallons. You can also order through your club or hobby shop in large quantities and Companies like VP Power Master will send it on a regular delivery truck to their retail dealers on their truck with the dealers normal monthly restock saving hazmat and shipping costs. If Cool Power wants $55.00 a gallon, don't buy it. They've never been that pleasant to deal with anyway, seemingly preferring to sell all there products in Australia. Sometimes you can work with a local hobby shop that doesn't normally carry what you want (for example: they carry all RC blends but you want GMA 10%) One of the few local shops left told me that Sig requires him to order 16 cases of fuel in order to not pay shipping/hazmat. 64 gallons is a pretty hefty order for most mom/pop shops but if he has to pay shipping/hazmat he has to charge a ton for the fuel.
Batteries have a limited cycle life span. It costs money for electricity to charge them. Electric motors, ESC's and speed controllers cost money. Some require a palm pilot or laptop to program and none of those individual items last forever. Motors will need bearings replaced just like IC engine. As for an accidental short during storage. well.....price of your home, shop, or car
As for electric cars here's what it cost to replace a Tesla Battery damaged from rocks/gravel on highway (Not covered by warrantee) Concern: Customer states vehicle is not responsive.
HV Battery (Remove & Replace)
A long list of parts is included, since there’s more stuff needed for a battery pack replacement than the battery itself. Notable parts include wiring harnesses, the skid plate, and battery coolant.
The biggest item is still the battery itself, of course.
ASY,HVBAT,75KWH,AWD,KELVIN,1PH,M3,RMN(1 13737501-K): $13,500
Labor: $2,299.27
Parts and labor combined, it cost nearly $16,000 to replace this Tesla Model 3’s battery pack.
Breaking it down, Tesla shop rates may vary from location to location, but the location this was performed at runs $175 per hour, meaning the battery replacement job is estimated to take a little over 13 hours.
The $13,500 customer price for the battery pack isn’t exactly indicative of Tesla’s cost to build one, either—there could be a margin on the part to help cover costs or create profit. Additionally, there’s an important three-letter code present on the battery line-item: RMN, short for remanufactured