EV prices fall in US, stall everywhere else

Electric vehicles have become more affordable in the USA even if you haven’t noticed it, a study claims.

The mean cost of an EV in the United States has dropped by 25% over the past seven years, Jato Dynamics claims. This result is adjusted for inflation, so if you cannot corroborate it, that’s because prices have grown all across the board. Right now, an average EV only costs about 15% more than a comparable ICE car.

Things don’t look as good in the rest of the world, however. Europe and China have managed to drop EV prices by 15%, Great Britain has eked out a 3% mean price drop, but only if you count the entire UK because England prices have risen by 14% over the same period. The European Union has seen a 7% EV price bump even with the inflation taken into account.

It is believed that, ironically, the environmental laws played a major role in electric cars – which we perceive as eco-clean once production is complete – going up in price. The new emission standards imposed on manufacturers proved too harsh, and many ended up facing large fines for continuing to make “dirty” traditional cars. But to compensate for those fines, they had to make their EVs more expensive. A bit of a fated circle situation, if you will.

Meanwhile, China led the innovation worldwide with its EV sector booming even as its ICE car prices fell by 28%. People shopping for a new car in China have it better than most these days, the study seems to suggest.