Market Study: Electric Cars Are Too Expensive

Sales of electric cars in Germany are stumbling primarily because they are expensive, and in general – with some exceptions – much more expensive than their gasoline cousins, said automotive industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöfer in a new market study.

In addition, dealers offer a lower rebate for already expensive e-cars than for gasoline cars, so the reasons for the change in share are obvious. For research, Dudenheffer compared the prices, with discounts, of the 20 best-selling models of electric cars and their gasoline models. He took into account the prices, that is, the discounts that the sellers of new vehicles advertise on the Internet.

The average price of an e-car is 45,040 euros, and the discount is 12.9 percent, so buyers of new electric cars pay an average of 39,236 euros. Comparable gasoline models cost an average of 38,228 euros, before the 15 percent discount. With the rebate, the average drops to 32,355 euros, so almost 7,000 less than its electric brothers.

It is interesting that German premium car manufacturers, especially BMW, keep a small price difference between electric and gasoline models, Dudenheffer pointed out. Sellers of cheaper cars, for example, Opel, reason differently.

Thus, the electric Corsa was 13,633 euros, i.e. 79 percent more expensive than the gasoline one. Another Opel model, the Mokka, in the e-variant, was more expensive by 9411 euros or 35 percent. It is similar to the offers of Peugeot, Nissan and Chinese manufacturers. With such prices, “electric cars remain too expensive for the average consumer.”

Thus, in the first seven months of 2024, Opel and Peugeot sold only one electric car for every 19 gasoline cars in Germany. The share of e-cars in sales from the beginning of the year to the end of July was 12.2 percent. Interestingly, BMW e-cars have a share of 16.7 percent in sales, and it is similar to Mercedes.

Dudenheffer attributes this to the relatively small price difference between electric and gasoline models. For example, the electric BMW X1 is only 2,260 euros or six percent more expensive.

By the way, sales of e-cars have fallen since the beginning of the year with the expiration of state subsidies to citizens and companies when purchasing these vehicles.

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