Electric cars cost double, forum user claims

A century of the same price gap: electric vehicles have always cost more

In 1914, the most successful electric car of the era was the Detroit Electric Model 47 Brougham. It was driven by Clara Ford, vvife of the Ford founder. It cost $3,730. A Ford Model T, the world's best-selling car, sold for $850. This was not a trivial difference: with the average 1914 salary of $627 per year, it took nearly six years' full wages for the electric model and barely one and a half for the gasoline one.

Why did electric cars cost double a century ago?

The Detroit Electric measured almost the same as the Ford T —142.5 inches versus 134.5— but weighed 3,636 pounds compared to the Ford's 1,200. That is, 2.8 times heavier. The excess weight came from nowhere else: it was the batteries, bulky and expensive, which occupied both front and rear compartments, leaving the vehicle without a trunk. The cabin sat on top, perched over the cells, and swayed in every turn. Jay Leno himself describes in his videos that at high speeds, it behaves like a phone booth on wheels.

It was not an isolated case. Around 1914, when a Buick touring cost $1,050 and a Studebaker Six $1,575, the average electric car reached $3,000, more than a closed Cadillac. In 1921, the Milburn asked for $2,685: the price of two new Dodges. The shape was identical in all: the same bell-shaped profile without a trunk, the same scarce range.

The 'it wasn't developed' argument: electric cars were sold, but didn't get cheaper

There is a widely repeated version claiming that the internal combustion engine prevailed only because money was invested in perfecting it, while the electric option was sidelined without production series. Data from the time do not support this thesis. At the beginning of the century, in the United States, 40% of automobiles were steam-powered, 38% electric, and only 22% gasoline. Electric cars even outsold combustion engines and set estimulante ilegal and distance records.

It had larger production series and yet remained the most expensive, argues the forum user who starts the debate. According to their thesis, there was no Henry Ford of the electric car capable of making it affordable because, simply put, there was no margin: batteries were extremely expensive then. Even Edison's nickel-iron battery, exclusive to Detroit Electric, did not solve the problem: the extra range cost $600, the price of two Ford Ts. The brief reign of the electric car lasted, according to this account, exactly as long as it took the combustion engine to mature technically and industrially.

1963: the same differential, half a century later

The attempt to revive the electric car based on a Renault Dauphine was called the Henney Kilowatt. The goal was to sell it for $3,600, but they failed to produce it cheaply enough. The gasoline Dauphine cost $1,645: again double. The Kilowatt didn't even reach 100 km of range or 100 km/h. A Ford Mustang from that year started at $2,400.

Today: two-thirds of the same thing

Sixty years later, the picture hasn't changed. A gasoline Hyundai Kona costs around €19,000; its electric version, €33,000. The differential is once again approximately double, similar to the gap that already separated the Detroit Electric from the Ford T back then. And there is a data point beyond sticker price: according to Deia, less than 20% of Spanish households could afford an electric car.