When might lower-income drivers benefit from electric vehicles? Quantifying the economic equity implications of electric vehicle adoption
This analysis finds that cost reductions in new electric vehicles (EVs) will lead to decreased used EV prices and cost parity with used gasoline vehicles for low-income households in the 2025-2030 time period. Higher rates of depreciation for first owners of EVs will lead to larger benefits for lower-income second owners. By 2029, EVs will reach upfront price parity with the average vehicle purchased by a low-income household, less than two years after the average vehicle purchased by a high-income household. Currently, once accounting for fuel and other operating savings, some households in all income groups could save money by replacing at least one vehicle with an EV; this increases to 45% of households by 2025 and 95% of households by 2030.
