In an era of inflation and rising prices, electric vehicle makers have been striving to make their EVs more affordable for the average car owner.
Tesla, the EV industry's leading company in production and deliveries, has managed to offer its most affordable vehicle, the Model 3, to consumers for one of the lowest prices among electric cars at $32,740, according to its website.
Forget Tesla – We’re all-in on this EV stock
The Austin, Texas, EV maker has begun producing its new Cybertruck pickup and expects to begin deliveries at the end of the third quarter, most likely late September. No one (except for maybe CEO Elon Musk) really knows what the list price for Cybertruck will be. When the company originally unveiled the EV in 2019, it proposed three models: single-engine rear-wheel drive at $39,900; dual motor all-wheel drive for $49,900 and Tri Motor all-wheel drive for $69,900, but all of its specs, configurations and prices disappeared from the website by the end of 2021, Electrek reported.
The price of the Cybertruck has likely risen significantly since those original prices were unveiled, especially since supply chain issues and inflation have affected prices for everything over the past two years.
Shutterstock
Elon Musk Thinks Ford Lightning Is Somewhat Expensive
Tesla CEO Elon Musk calls Ford's F-150 Lightning "somewhat expensive," InsideEVs reported, at a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price of $49,995 for the lowest priced Lightning Pro, which might hint that Musk might undercut Ford's pricing, putting the Cybertruck's lowest starting price below $49,000.
Ford's lowest priced EV today is the Mustang Mach-E Select at a starting price of $42,995 and a high of $59,995 for the Mustang Mach-E GT.
Among the other lower priced EVs are Nissan's (NSANY) -) Leaf EV with a $28,040 MSRP and BMW's (BMWYY) -) Mini Cooper SE Hardtop priced as low as $30,900.
General Motors' (GM) -) Chevy Bolt became the second best-selling electric vehicle behind the Tesla Model S when it was launched in 2017. It was also named the 2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year, 2017 North American Car of the Year, Automobile magazine 2017 All Star and was listed among Time magazine's Best 25 Inventions of 2016.
The 2023 Chevy Bolt is one of the most affordable electric vehicles on the market with a manufacturer's suggest retail price beginning at $26,500. With that price and all of its past rave reviews, one would think the Bolt would be here to stay for many years. GM's plan was to increase production from about 44,000 Bolts in 2022 to 70,000 in 2023.
But instead of ramping up, the company reversed course on manufacturing Bolts. Cody Williams, senior manager, for communications at Chevy, said in a statement in April that GM would discontinued the Bolt at the end of 2023.
GM's CEO Mary Barra may have eased the worries of Chevy Bolt fans when she hinted in a June interview with NPR that GM might bring back the Bolt under its third generation Ultium battery technology.
GM CEO Confirms Chevy Bolt Returning
Barra took it a step further on July 25 during GM's second quarter earnings call when she confirmed that the Detroit automaker plans to soon revive the Chevy Bolt after discontinuing it.
"We are investing significantly less capital and expect to deliver vehicles that will have much higher levels of customer-facing content and even better margins than today," Barra said in the earnings call. "Another great example of a capital efficient program is the next generation Chevrolet Bolt that we plan to execute. Our customers love today's Bolt. It has been delivering record sales in some of the highest customer satisfaction and loyalty scores in the industry.
Barra, however, did not provide any further details on models, pricing or when it would launch the new Bolt.
"We will have more details to share soon," Barra said.
