Electric car prices have climbed more than 20% since last year. | Science in HD/Unsplash
Electric car prices have climbed more than 20% since last year. | Science in HD/Unsplash
Encouraging a strong shift toward electric vehicles (EVs) has been part of President Joe Biden's plan to push for green energy. However, with inflation affecting the cost of every basic necessity, most American families cannot afford the price of an EV, making high Pennsylvania gas prices look a lot less painful, comparatively.
Chris Teague, contributing automotive journalist for Autoblog, said the price of EVs has increased more than 20% since last year.
"In May, buyers paid an average of 22% more for a new EV than they did the year before, as the average sale amount climbed to $54,000," Teague said.
Teague reported that the average sale amount for an electric vehicle climbed 22% in the last year to hit $54,000 per vehicle in May. The blog points out that prices for gas vehicles have been on the way up as well, though to a lesser extent.
Buyers reportedly paid an average of $44,400 for a gas vehicle in the same period, a 14% increase. Raw material cost increases, research and development costs, rapid demand growth, and inflation are said to be significant contributors to EVs becoming so much more expensive so quickly.
According to CNBC, a recent report by AlixPartners said raw material costs for electric vehicles more than doubled during the coronavirus pandemic.
Led by essential battery materials such as cobalt, nickel and lithium, average EV raw material costs totaled $8,255 per vehicle as of May. CNBC says this average cost is up 144% from $3,381 per vehicle in March 2020. It has also been reported that EV-specific costs have increased to $4,500 from roughly $2,000 in the past two years.
The shift to electric vehicles has been strongly encouraged by the Biden administration since August 2021. Biden set the goal of producing at least 50% of all vehicles emission-free by 2030 as part of his push for green energy, as stated in a White House press release.
The average cost for gasoline in Pennsylvania is $4.73 per gallon as of July 14, AAA reported. There has recently been a slight decline in gas prices, largely driven by a decrease in the price of oil, according to AAA.
Tesla has increased the prices of its vehicles multiple times just this year, so much so that some of Tesla's EVs cost almost 10% more than they did at the start of 2022, Teague reported.
According to World Population Review, the median household income in Pennsylvania is $61,744--making the affordability of an average EV unrealistic.
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