Electric vehicles are cheaper to maintain and cheaper to "fuel" than internal combustion vehicles. From an economic perspective, the initial vehicle price is the only thing holding many consumers back from purchasing an EV. The good news is that EV prices are decreasing; albeit slower than we'd like.
Charging At Home Is Convenient (and affordable)
EV ownership is much easier if you own a home and have a garage. You install a residential EV charging station in your garage and you charge overnight (when rates are often at their lowest). Then you start out each morning with a full charge.
Depending on where you live, the cost per mile driven can be about the same as gasoline priced at $1 per gallon.
Charging away from home is often more expensive; workplace and hotel guest charging, however, is often free.
Borrow Instead of Buy
If you are lucky enough to live in an area that has an EV car-share program like "CRuSE" (Clean Rural Shared EV), you can borrow an EV for just $2 per hour.
Incentives
When you are buying, tax incentives certainly help ease that upfront cost. And now that this modern era of EVs is entering its teen years, there's a healthy and growing used EV market.
Prices Are Dropping
However, the incentives will not be required for much longer. Battery technology keeps advancing, bringing longer ranges, faster recharge times, and (most importantly) lower prices. Later this decade, EVs will have a lower starting price than their gasoline-powered counterparts. Then with the additional lower running costs, it will be a no-brainer.
Multiple battery factories are being built today. Batteries are by far the single highest cost of EVs today. As these factories come online in 2024, battery prices will drop and EV prices will follow.
Falling prices of critical minerals will lead to a 40% drop in the cost of batteries for electric vehicles by 2025, with big implications for the pace of global EV adoption, says Goldman Sachs Research.
Consider A Used EV
If you're looking for an affordable EV today, a used one is your best bet. We recently purchased a 2016 Chevy Spark EV. It only has about 60 miles of range, but it is our runabout vehicle. The range is perfect for errands. It starts out every morning fully charged, ready for the day.
Once You Get Here, It's Fun!
EVs are fun to drive, smooth, quiet, and peppy. When the performance, range, and size fit your needs, it's magical.
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