Electric vehicles may be too expensive to attract buyers in 2012, according to research from Boulder-based Pike Research.
Pike said Nissan has raised the price of its electric Leaf for 2012. And while the 2012 Chevrolet Volt will sell for $1,000 less than 2011 models, the car comes without several features that were previously standard but are now options.
“Relatively high selling prices will constrain the market for PEVs (plug-in electric vehicles) in 2012,” Pike said.
“Vehicles on sale in 2012 will not benefit from recent cost reductions in batteries,” said Pike research director John Gartner. “The batteries in these vehicles were ordered before 2012, so any flexibility in reducing vehicle pricing will not occur until 2013 or 2014 at the earliest.
“Nevertheless, the global market for plug-in electric vehicles will grow to more than a quarter million vehicles in 2012 — a number sufficient to put an end to the ‘are they for real?’ speculation that has surrounded this market,” Gartner said.
