Despite saving owners some money on fuel, electric vehicles have remained more expensive than their gas counterparts. That’s changing slowly, as Cox Automotive recently reported that EV prices have fallen below the average Tesla price for the first time since early 2023.
While its vehicles aren’t “cheap,” Tesla offers two of the most affordable EVs on sale today. Including Tesla, the average EV transaction price reached $55,235 in April, $433 less than Tesla’s standalone average. In May, that gap widened to $721 below the average Tesla price, a significant shift considering the automaker’s outsized impact on average market prices.
The changes in average pricing can be attributed to a greater number of choices for buyers. Dealer supply also played a role, and automakers are offering more incentives for EVs than before. Buyers saw average discounts of 12.4 percent in May, six percent higher than the industry average.
Tesla is known for pricing adjustments as much as it is for anything else, so these numbers could look drastically different as time goes on. That said, more automakers, including General Motors, Volvo, and others, are pushing toward affordable EV models, which could impact the averages.
Buyers are also buying more used EVs than before as prices have fallen. Used EVs are typically $2,000-$3,000 less expensive than new models, but that’s still a significantly smaller savings number than used gas vehicles, which were almost $23,000 less expensive on average.
[Images: Kia, Hyundai, Ford]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
