Skip to main content

Electric and petrol-powered cars could be price-competitive in 2017

New projections from US advocacy group the Electric Coalition indicate that the cost of owning an electric car is on its way to becoming competitive with petrol-powered cars. The coalition teamed with professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) to calculate expected costs of several types of compact cars, pitting battery-electric against internal combustion engines, plug-in hybrids and hybrid vehicles. Including cost of purchase, fuel, maintenance, federal tax credits and residuals, the data sho
July 29, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
New projections from US advocacy group the Electric Coalition indicate that the cost of owning an electric car is on its way to becoming competitive with petrol-powered cars.
 
The coalition teamed with professional services firm 5019 PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) to calculate expected costs of several types of compact cars, pitting battery-electric against internal combustion engines, plug-in hybrids and hybrid vehicles. Including cost of purchase, fuel, maintenance, federal tax credits and residuals, the data show the cost of owning petrol-powered vehicles continuing to rise through 2024 as costs for hybrids, plug-in hybrids and pure electric cars decline dramatically.
 
“In this analysis, we also saw that battery electric vehicles should have a total cost of ownership that is competitive with internal combustion engines in 2017,” said Jonna Hamilton, the coalition’s vice president of policy.
 
On the production side, that trend is reflected in lithium-ion battery prices, which have dropped from about US$1,000 per kilowatt-hour in 2008, to US$600 per kWh today. Hamilton said analysts expected that price to fall even further, to between US$300 and US$325 per kWh by 2020.
 
The EV market is already showing gains in popularity among consumers as production costs fall and drivers take advantage of remaining rebates and dirt-cheap leasing deals.

Hamilton said more than 110,000 plug-in vehicles were sold in the US over the last two and a half years.
 
Future reports in the collaboration between the Electrification Coalition and PwC will further examine battery costs and sales and evaluate the infrastructure needed to support the market’s growing fleet of electric cars.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Zero-emission hybrid-electric truck evaluation
    February 2, 2012
    Vision Industries, which has been marketing its Class 8 zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell hybrid-electric truck for more than a year, is working with the Port of Los Angeles to further evaluate its performance in the rigorous port trucking environment.
  • Growth of OEM telematics in new passenger cars
    March 3, 2016
    The latest research by ABI Research forecasts the global penetration of embedded and hybrid factory installed OEM telematics in new passenger cars to exceed 72 per cent by 2021. Growth will mainly be driven by key volume car OEMs in the US, European Union and China markets. Brands within these markets showing accelerated growth include GM, which expects to reach 12 million OnStar subscribers globally by the end of 2016, including its Opel brand in Europe and Cadillac in China; and Ford, which claims to have
  • First all-electric car-sharing scheme in North America to launch
    April 19, 2012
    ECOtality has announced a partnership with Car2go, a subsidiary of Daimler North America Corporation, to provide electric vehicle charging infrastructure to support what is being claimed as the first 100-per cent electric car sharing programme in North America. With plans for approximately 300 Smart Fortwo electric drive vehicles, the programme in San Diego represents the largest fleet of EVs in the United States.
  • Consumers ‘fear technology failures with autonomous vehicles’
    April 21, 2017
    With the exception of Generation Y (1977-1994), all other generational groups are becoming more sceptical of self-driving technology, which poses a new challenge to car manufacturers and technology developers, according to the J.D. Power 2017 US Tech Choice Study. The study was carried out in January-February 2017 and is based on an online survey of more than 8,500 consumers who purchased/leased a new vehicle in the past five years. “In most cases, as technology concepts get closer to becoming reality, cons