2024 Was the Year the Affordable EV Died - Part 4 - Good News and Bad News

We update our year-long series on the death of the affordable EV in America. We have important updates from GM, Tesla, and Nissan. 

As we rolled into the new year of 2024, Torque News realized something important about the American market for vehicles with battery-only powertrains. The affordable models were going away, and the media was pretending that affordable EVs were “just around the corner.” We decided to do a formal analysis, brand by brand, model by model, of the most affordable battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and forecast what would happen in 2024. With the Q3 numbers now available, we spent the day scouring the announcement and updates for news, both good and bad. Please let us tell you from the heart, we’d rather be wrong about this, but it still appear as if the affordable EV in America died this year.

Initial Story With Q1 Update Is Here

Part 3 of This Series Is Found Here

Good News First - Nissan’s Leaf Had a Banner Month, and It was Not An Accident
The Nissan Leaf is America’s most affordable EV model, and our earlier reports were very gloomy. The Leaf was well off of its historical high-water point for deliveries and dropping. However, in September, we got some really positive news, and it was due to an effort by Nissan to promote the Leaf.

Nissan is currently the country’s leading supplier of affordable vehicles, including the Sub-$30K Nissan Leaf. We noticed that the Leaf had a GREAT September with 4,514 units delivered. That is a massive jump in deliveries, and it turned a down year into an up year for the model. Year-to-date deliveries are now ahead by 31%!

We reached out to Nissan and asked how this came to pass. Nissan had been averaging less than 1,000 Leaf deliveries per month for quite some time (years). Kyle W. Bazemore, Nissan’s Director Corporate Communications, was kind enough to reply, telling us, “LEAF is part of our ‘six under $30K’ marketing campaign, which has generated quite a bit of showroom traffic.” Mr. Bazemore, being a pro, also added, “We are finding that, as customers trade in their crossovers, they are discovering how roomy, beautiful and advanced our mid-size Ariya EV is. Considering its range, it has become a viable alternative to similarly-sized gas-powered vehicles, particularly in the northeast.”

It certainly doesn’t hurt that the Leaf may qualify for tax incentives and that some states have very large incentives for the Leaf. Color us very impressed and pleased that Nissan is making such a strong push on both affordable vehicles, and also EVs.

More Good News - Chevy Equinox LT Rumored To be Coming in October
We don't have any confirmation of this, and GM’s public-facing page is still saying there are no Equinox EVs in inventory, but Inside EVs has reported that the $35K version of the Equinox EV is “Shipping to Dealers.” We know that Inside EVs would not intentionally publish this news if they didn’t feel it to be true. Check back at year-end, and hopefully, we will be reporting that GM delivered some $35K Equinox EVs to consumers. As of the publication of this story, the Equinox EVs sold so far has an average transaction price we would estimate at around $48K. 

Bad News - Tesla Drops Its Most Affordable Model
Tesla’s Model Y is a screaming bargain right now, but hard to call affordable with its nearly $50K price point. The Model 3 had been Tesla’s most affordable model, but the news on Tesla is that it has dropped its lowest-priced Model 3 version. Speculation is that this had to do with Chinese EV import tariffs. We can only say with confidence that the low-cost “Model 2” remains a fantasy.

As a trend, vehicles with all-electric powertrains remain significantly more expensive than other green vehicle options, even farther from conventionally-powered vehicles' cost. GM’s average transaction price for EVs has more than doubled over the past year or so. More and more high-priced models continue to roll out, including the $100K GMC Sierra EV. We will do a full accounting of the numbers at year-end, but with new low-cost EVs from Kia, Jeep, Volvo, and other brands still over the horizon, it is becoming pretty clear that the affordable EV in America is on life support at best. 
 

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John Goreham is an experienced New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work at our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading. 

Top of Page Image courtesy of Nissan. Image of Equinox inventory status courtesy of GM's public-facing page.