Electric Vehicles are Too Damn Expensive
The MSRPs of every EV on sale in the U.S. today, from the Nissan Leaf to the Porsche Taycan.
The average Josephine on the street can’t afford to step into most electric vehicles on sale in the U.S. today, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has admitted.
“Our cars are not affordable enough,” Musk said during his second-quarter earnings call in July. “We need to fix that.”
Electric cars and crossovers remain far too expensive to be daily commuters for the middle- and working-classes, who in congested urban areas, at least, may be turning to e-bikes instead, an electric segment in which U.S. sales spiked 92-percent in April and 137-percent in May, according to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.
But if you are in the market for a new EV, here’s a list of prices for all of the various electric-only vehicles sold in the U.S.
No one outside of rental agencies ever buys a completely stripped base model, and few of us can afford cars or SUVs with every conceivable option on them, so I’ve configured a few key examples below with moderate lists of options to get a better idea of where the heart of the market is. Many of the EVs that are not Teslas are available with generous incentives; where available I’ve listed applicable incentives and favorable lease rates.
The list begins with market leader Tesla, then covers the rest of the EV field from cheapest to most expensive. If they’re all out of your reach, don’t give up—you can buy a good e-bike for about $3,000.