Will electric car prices drop?
Addressing the high cost of entry into the electric mobility world, it's unlikely that we will see a decrease in the price of electric vehicles. More affordable options may present themselves in the future but here's why you cannot expect electric vehicle prices to drop in the near future.
For those that are prepared to embrace change, a future with electric vehicles (EV) doesn't scare them. They understand the benefits of electrification and are looking to benefit from the cost savings that come with electric vehicle ownership. The biggest hurdle at this current point in time, while EVs are still fairly new and uncommon on our roads, is the initial purchase price. It's true, EVs are expensive when one considers their inherent range limitations. But will the price of EVs decrease?
Related: Are electric car charging stations free?
Sadly, it's unlikely for electric car prices to drop any time soon. The South African government still imposes a rather stiff 25% import tax on electric vehicles while the tax imposed on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles is only 18%. Many other countries offer tax rebates on electric vehicles, making them more accessible and more affordable. This helps promote EV adoption amongst consumers. You can find out what the cheapest EV is in South Africa here.
EV pricing versus the market
Local manufacturers and agencies know that the initial purchase price of EVs is prohibitive at this current moment. Despite this, they have already endeavoured to price their EV offerings as competitively as possible, positioning them towards the upper end of their ranges though. In most cases, it's possible to get an ICE vehicle with similar performance for the same amount within the brand.
Vehicle prices will increase every year and one cannot expect the prices of EV to drop. What will happen, as technology improves and components become cheaper to produce, is the overall cost of the vehicle will come down, but that will not be able to counter the effects of inflation and our constantly weakening Rand value. There will be cheaper EVs available in the future and they may not be positioned as high up in the ranges as they currently are right now, but still expect them to cost the same, or similar, to traditional ICE vehicles.
EVs have also been shown to retain their future value rather well as we discovered. Read more about that here.
Electric Vehicle price comparison
Here are a few examples of how closely matched some EV prices are to their ICE counterparts:
| Model | Price |
| Audi e-tron 55 quattro | R1 745 000 |
| Audi Q8 55TFSI quattro | R1 714 900 |
| BMW iX3 M Sport | R1 306 400 |
| BMW X3 xDrive30d M Sport | R1 296 840 |
| MINI Cooper SE Hatch 3-door | R742 102 |
| MINI John Cooper Works Hatch 3-door | R719 464 |
