Jus a couple of days ago we mentioned that electric car sales in the U.S. are up a whopping 448% from last year, and this sort of move is just one of the reasons why. Toyota is cutting the starting or base price of its 2014 Prius Plug-in model to $29,990. The plug-in used to start at $32,000 for the base model, and $39,525 for the more ‘advanced’ model. The advanced model will now be $34,905. This has become a trend across mass-market electrified carmakers, with the exception Tesla. The Nissan (Leaf), GM (Volt), and Ford (EV) have all dropped prices on their electrified models.
As Treehugger has pointed out, the cutting of prices for new technologies as they scale is completely normal. Just look at how computers and mobile phones have come down in price and increased in power and performance over the years, for example. As we’ve pointed out on many occasions, the same is has been happening with solar power (see The Cost Of Solar Cells Has Dropped An Incredible 99% Since 1977 from earlier this week). Now it’s definitely starting to happen with electric cars as well.
The battery packs are the costliest part of electric cars, and batteries should continue to drop in price over time. This is good news for people looking to buy electric cars, but currently find them a bit on the expensive side. Even Tesla has a more affordable model in the works.
Production of the 2014 Prius Plug-In is due to start in October (2013), with cars hitting showrooms in November, according to Toyota. It will be available in 15 U.S. states including:Â California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and Hawaii.
Image: Toyota, 2014 Prius Plug-In
Via Treehugger
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