by tzs | 2025-04-25 15:18:33+00:00
You are overestimating the price of EVs in the US. I was recently in the market for an EV and my budget wasn't anywhere near 70k and I found several options--way more than I had expected.

In the following when I saw "tax credit" I mean the federal $7500 tax credit. Many EV makers with models that do not qualify for the tax credit are offering an equivalent credit which I will call "tax match". For some that is a straight up $7500 off. For others it is only if you finance through them (but if you prefer to buy outright just finance and then pay it off right away).

It is this tax match that was responsible for there being way more cars in my price range than I thought there would be.

BTW, if you are leasing instead of buying the tax credit is generally available even for EVs that do not qualify when you buy them.

I'm mostly going to be giving prices and discounts as you would find them at a dealer to better reflect what you are actually looking at out of pocket.

• Nissan Leaf S for around $29k. Tax match plus some other Nissan bonuses that every dealer seems to be offering brings it to $20k.

• Nissan Leaf SV Plus for around $39k. $29k after tax match plus other common discounts from Nissan and dealers.

• Nissan Ariya $42k for FWD, $46k for AWD, or $35k and $38k after tax match.

• Chevy Equinox EV for $35k, $27.5 after tax credit. That's the FWD model and has a 319 mile range. $5k for an AWD model (which drops the range to 309). (AWD actually adds $3k, but the base AWD model has $2k of other packages that are optional on the $35k model. If you start with the $35k model and add the packages you want you will almost certain add those packages too, and so then going to AWD will just add $3k).

• Hyundai Kona SE at $33k or $26k after the tax match.

• Hyundai Kona SEL at $37k or $30k after the tax match. This is what I ended up buying.

• Kia Niro Wind for $40k (but really $42k because I think most dealers add the package that replaces resistance heating with a heat pump) or $35k after the tax match.

• Kia Niro Wave for $47k (with the heat pump package) or $39k with the tax match and other discounts I saw at most dealers.

• Toyota bZ4X for $40k FWD or $44 AWD. No tax credit and no official tax match but the dealer I visited really wanted to push it so offered about $5k in discounts and rebates and offered $3k more in trade for my 2006 Honda CR-V than anyone else did and something that I don't remember that brought the AWD down to $35k. Oh and also 0% financing.

• Chevy Blazer EV at around $49k or $42k with the tax credit. I've seen some big discounts on this. My nearest Chevy dealer has a $6500 "Discount for Everyone" on these which would bring it $36k. I currently don't see that anywhere else so it may just be that one dealer.

• Hyundai IONIQ 6 SEL at $52k or $44k after the tax match. IONIQ 5 SE is about the same.

• Subaru Soltera at $40k. No tax credit or match.

• Fiat 500e at $34k MSRP. Dealers seem to give a discount of around $2k.

• Volkswagen ID.4 is a little confusing. My nearest dealer has an 2025 ID.4 Limited for $42.5 MSRP. So do other dealers. But Volkswagen's site does not list a Limited. The lowest trim is the Pro at $45k MSRP. Anyway, no tax credit or match but it looks like there is some sort of $5k bonus going on so about $36k.

I think that might be all the current model EVs in the US that are generally available for under around $40k after widely available incentives.

There are also several between there and the $70k range you mentioned.