As auto costs rise, will the US miss the golden age of electric vehicles?
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- Slate Auto launched a Jeff Bezos-backed electric pickup at a $24,950 base price — one of the cheapest in the US market — but the base model ships stripped down with hand-crank windows, no stereo, and an estimated 205 miles of range.
- The US has just 8 new EV models under $25,000, compared to 200+ EVs and hybrids in the same price range in China, according to industry analyst DCar.
- The average new US vehicle transaction price rose about $11,000 to $48,402, and sub-$25,000 vehicles dropped from nearly 21% of US new car sales in 2019 to fewer than 5% last year, per Edmunds.
- BYD sells feature-loaded EVs with driver assist and 314-mile range in premium models under $15,000 — roughly one-third of Slate's price — and already produces more EVs than Tesla, with a stated goal of becoming the world's biggest automaker within five years.
- Chinese-made cars accounted for about 20% of UK December new-car sales and 6.4% of EU sales despite new tariffs, but remain unavailable in the US market.
- Dan Krassner, executive director of the American EVs Jobs Alliance, warned the US "can't hand the whole auto industry to Beijing," calling EVs "the big manufacturing prize of the century."
Why it matters: With only 8 US EVs priced under $25,000 against China's 200+, and Chinese cars already capturing 20% of UK sales and 6.4% of EU sales, American automakers are losing the most affordable segment of the global auto market to Beijing-aligned brands like BYD — a manufacturing and supply-chain gap that Krassner frames as a national security risk.
