When will EVs be cheaper than equivalent ones with ICE? Germany vs Turkey.

If we are talking about the purchasing price, you can buy an electric vehicle cheaper than equivalent vehicle with Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) in Germany, today. For example the electric Volkswagen model id3 (23,430 €) is sold 12% cheaper than its equivalent ICE model Golf (26,460 €). The government incentive, called an environmental bonus of 6,570 € has a share in this cheapness. However, without incentives, we can see how close the prices of electric and gasoline vehicles are to each other.

In Germany, VW ID3's operating cost such as annual fuel, maintenance, tax and insurance is 40% lower than its equivalent model Golf’s one. There is no Motor Vehicle Tax for EVs in Germany, but while kWh price for electricity charged at home is 31 eurocents in Germany, it is just 8 eurocents/ kWh ​​in Turkey. Therefore, the annual saving obtained from the use of electric vehicle is much higher in Turkey than the one in Germany. In other words, Driving EV is quite cheap in Turkey because of low electricity tariffs. Continuing from above example, even there is no subsidy for EVs in Turkey, one is able to get back the purchase price difference between EV (without subsidies) and the equivalent ICE vehicle in just 3 years. (for 20.000 km / year usage).

The answer to when the purchasing price of electric vehicles -without incentive- will be cheaper than the one of equivalent vehicles with internal combustion engine is directly related to the battery costs. Ten years ago, the battery cost per kWh was USD 1,000, but today it has dropped to USD 150. When the price drops to 100 USD and below, Electric Vehicles can be sold cheaper than internal combustion vehicles. Experts predict that this price will be reached by 2025 at the latest.