Myth: EVs Are Only Accessible for the Wealthy

Myth: EVs are only acces­si­ble for the wealthy.

Myth Bust­ed: There are pro­grams and oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able that make own­ing an EV afford­able for many.

With the elec­tric vehi­cle mar­ket increas­ing in pop­u­lar­i­ty, the cost of EVs is drop­ping much faster than expect­ed. How­ev­er, the upfront cost of buy­ing an EV is still a bar­ri­er for many dri­vers. Luck­i­ly, there are sev­er­al pro­grams and strate­gies avail­able that can make own­ing an EV less of a finan­cial bur­den and help dri­vers con­tribute to clean air with­out break­ing the bank.

First­ly, there are great tax cred­its and incen­tives pro­vid­ed fed­er­al­ly and by the state to help make the upfront cost of buy­ing an EV more man­age­able. The fed­er­al EV tax cred­it awards up to $7,500 for new elec­tric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehi­cles pur­chased after 2010 – if you are leas­ing a car, this cred­it can poten­tial­ly low­er your lease cost. Col­orado has a $2,500 state tax cred­it that may be applied at pur­chase for many EV man­u­fac­tur­ers as well as a $1,500 tax cred­it for EV leas­es of at least two years.

If tax cred­its don’t reduce the price enough, you don’t have enough tax lia­bil­i­ty, or if you’re not look­ing to buy a new vehi­cle, try the used EV mar­ket. Many car man­u­fac­tur­ers have EV mod­els avail­able now, and the used EV mar­ket con­tin­ues to grow as new­er mod­els are released. Typ­i­cal­ly, used EVs cost any­where from 43% to 72% less than new ones and mod­els 3 years or old­er can be found for less than $10,000.

In addi­tion to pur­chase price reduc­tion, util­i­ties are also work­ing to make own­ing elec­tric vehi­cles more afford­able. There are sev­er­al Low to Mod­er­ate Income pro­grams aimed at bring­ing low-cost charg­ing to mul­ti-fam­i­ly hous­ing and busi­ness­es to make EVs and charg­ing more acces­si­ble to low-income com­mu­ni­ties. Xcel Ener­gy has tax cred­its and rebates avail­able for their cus­tomers to help low­er upfront costs for both EVs and charg­ing infra­struc­ture, and many oth­er util­i­ties in Col­orado have sim­i­lar programs.

As the world moves for­ward with EV inno­va­tion, equi­ty con­tin­ues to be a major focus. New pro­pos­als and ideas are emerg­ing that aim to make EVs more acces­si­ble and afford­able and there are many resources out there that can help you on your EV jour­ney, includ­ing Dri­ve Elec­tric Col­orado. If you have ques­tions about these oppor­tu­ni­ties or EVs in gen­er­al, don’t hes­i­tate to con­tact us!

https://sustainableamerica.org/blog/making-evs-possible-for-low-income-drivers/

https://greenlining.org/resources/electric-vehicles-for-all/

https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/the-pros-and-cons-of-buying-a-used-ev.html