BMW, Nissan to Hyundai, There Has Never Been a Better Time to Buy an Electric Car

28.11.2023 - 01:11 / tech.hindustantimes.com

The battery-powered BMW iX is a technological marvel. The electric car travels up to 321 miles on a charge, its glass sunroof goes opaque at the touch of a button and you can turn up the stereo by twirling a finger near the dashboard. At the moment, one of these magical machines is on offer in Los Angeles for $80,195, a 17% discount on the sticker price. If that's a bit rich, there's an Ariya, Nissan's all-new EV, listed for $36,690 in Kansas City — a discount of 18%. More affordable still is the $29,990 Hyundai Kona Electric available in Atlanta. That's a 31% discount, making it almost as cheap as the gas-burning version. 

To borrow a tired advertising mantra, there's never been a better time to buy an electric vehicle, at least in the US. The American market now has more than 50 unique models to choose from, over double the options two years ago. As production volumes for battery-powered cars catch up with demand, there's also a glut of supply. EV inventories in the US are up fivefold over the past 12 months, according to digital listing platform CarGurus. 

“For consumers now, it's great,” says Kevin Roberts, director of industry insights at CarGurus. “EVs are becoming much more affordable than they were a year ago … and we've covered a lot of that early-adopter demand.” 

Would-be buyers should act fast, though (to borrow another advertising mantra). The excess inventory won't last long.

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Amid rising interest rates and steady inflation, pricing has been a major hurdle for EV adoption in the US. In June, almost two-thirds of US car shoppers surveyed by JD Power said they were “overall likely” to buy an electric car, but many couldn't find one in their price range. As recently as October, the average listing price for an EV on CarGurus was 28% higher than that of a gas-burning vehicle. 

Adoption is also affected by allocation formulas, which determine where new cars are shipped. EVs coming out of US factories are still disproportionately directed to dealerships in states like California that have regulations restricting gas-car sales by certain dates.

“You're going to find large swaths of the country where you might not find a dealership with one EV on the lot, let alone a number of them,” says Roberts at CarGurus.

But the EV premium is already starting to slip, a trend Tesla Inc. set off by steadily slashing prices on its two most popular models this year. Ford followed suit, wacking up to $10,000 off the sticker price of the F-150 Lightning pickup truck. On CarGurus, average prices are down over the past 12 months for Toyota's bZ4X (-10.3%), the Kia Niro EV (-8.6%) and the Chevrolet Bolt EUV (-6.4%), among others.

Mahi Manchala, an IT director who commutes from New