There is lots of talk recently about EV pricing and adoption.  I will mostly talk from a technology point of view.  The expensive part of an EV has always been the battery.  I recall (without citation) that the cost of the battery was 40% of the price of a Tesla Model 3 when we bought one several years ago.

I also recall that EVs such as the Tesla achieved cost parity with gas powered cars roughly a year ago. When things like maintenance are factored in, EV probably have a slight price edge.  So basically the battery + electric motor combination is about the same price as a traditional gasoline car power plant (engine, transmission, gas tank, etc).

But the big cost of the EV, the battery, is still in rapid decline.  So we can expect cheaper and cheaper EVs, relative to gas powered cars.  This is happening in China, with BYD offering a $10,000 car.

Again, this isn’t labor costs, or subsidies, which haven’t changed noticably.  It’s just EVs riding the technology curve the same way computers, cell phones and other technologies have.  So why have American EV prices (cough, cough, Tesla) stalled? And why at this critical point where EVs should be beating up on gas cars?  I will leave that to others in what is surely going to be non-technical discussions.

The Rise of Batteries in Six Charts and Not Too Many Numbers