Analysts predict that between 16.2 million and 16.3 million new cars could be sold across the United States next year. This would mark the strongest year in sales since 2019, up from the projected 15.98 million cars sold this year.

Several factors could contribute to a sales boost in 2025. The Federal Reserve recently cut interest rates for the third time this year, and inventory has started to improve in the second half of the year. Additionally, the average transaction price for new cars in 2024 is $47,465, or 0.8% lower than in 2023. Prices remain 27.2% higher than in 2019 however, when roughly 17 million new vehicles were sold in the US.

Read: Electrified Vehicles Grab Over 20% Of US Market Share With Hybrids Leading The Way

S&P Global Mobility and Edmunds estimate that 16.2 million new vehicles will be sold in 2025. Analysts from Cox Automotive put that figure closer to 16.3 million. This jump could happen despite the estimated price hikes due to the tariffs expected to be enforced by the Trump administration.

Edmunds believes that new tariffs “could dramatically increase vehicle prices” and that the added cost will be passed on to consumers. It’s possible that scrapping the $7,500 federal EV tax credit could slow sales of electric vehicles. However, there may be a temporary increase in EV sales before the credit is ditched as buyers could rush in and get a deal while they can. Cox Automotive says 10% of new vehicles sold next year could be BEVs, and 25% of new vehicle sales will be electrified.

“The tariffs proposed by the incoming president might not be more than negotiation tactics, but if they were enacted they would likely affect the costs of nearly all goods and services — not just car prices,” Edmunds’ head of insights Jessica Caldwell said. “Consumers would have less disposable income and automakers would likely need to increase incentive spending just to move metal. Things could get interesting if automakers consider stop-gap solutions such as reviving used vehicle leasing or subscription services, or devising completely new models in order to offer vehicles at less cost to the consumer.”

If tariffs are enforced, the price gap between new and used cars is expected to grow, pushing more shoppers towards a used vehicle. This year, the average transaction price for used vehicles was $27,252, a 5.4% decrease compared to 2023.

Everyone loves a good “breakthrough” headline about electric vehicles, especially the kind that promises they’ll finally stop costing as much as a mid-sized house in Ohio. Well, here’s one for you: according to a new study, the price of lithium batteries has fallen greatly, recording the most significant drop in seven years. The need for cheaper batteries is often cited as one way to speed up adoption, with experts waiting for EVs to achieve price parity with combustion vehicles.

Lithium-ion battery pack prices have cratered thanks to an oversupply of cells, as well as lower prices for the raw metals and other components used in manufacturing. The BloombergNEF survey covered 343 data points, encompassing electric cars, buses, and commercial vehicles.

Price Parity By 2026

The quest for electric vehicles to become as affordable as their internal combustion engine counterparts will be the true litmus test for widespread adoption. If the trend we’ve witnessed this year continues, we could see the much-vaunted price parity between electric vehicles and gas-powered cars becoming a reality for consumers as soon as 2026.

See: GM Sells $1 Billion Stake In Joint Battery Plant To LG

Currently, the average cost of a battery pack sits at $115 per kWh — a 20 percent decline from last year. Pricing will need to drop by $15 to $100 per kWh for that magical price parity, although according to the report from Bloomberg, that’s already happened in China, with some EVs selling for cheaper than their combustion counterparts.

There’s Still Some Way To Go

While BNEF predicts battery pricing will drop below $100 per kWh by 2026 and down to $69 per kWh by 2030, there are geopolitical and macroeconomic factors that may further impact these projections.

However, there will still be a “chicken and egg” situation, where the production of EV cells remains heavily dependent on car sales. While there has been an oversupply of cells recently, partly due to a slowdown in EV sales growth in some markets, manufacturers may begin to reduce production as a result, too.

Government Actions and Tariffs Threaten EV Progress

There are also other factors that may affect the road to price parity. European governments are slashing their EV subsidies, which, in Germany at least, has led to a significant drop in sales for 2024. Meanwhile, in the US, incoming President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese imports and 10%-20% tariffs on those from other countries. His transition team is also pushing for Congress to repeal the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit. If successful, this could severely impact most automakers, even though Musk believes it may ultimately benefit Tesla.

Electric vehicle adoption rates fluctuate wildly sometimes. What doesn’t move around so much is loyalty after a person owns an EV. According to a new study, 92 percent of respondents said they would never go back to an ICE car. In fact, of all the available options, only one percent of the study population said they’d definitely go back to an ICE-only platform. As for the remaining 7 percent, 4 percent indicated they’d opt for a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), and the rest weren’t sure.

More: EV Batteries May Last Up To 40% Longer Than Expected

Notably, the survey comes from the Global EV Alliance (via Bloomberg) which, as its name might suggest, probably isn’t the most unbiased group when it comes to electric vehicles. It says online that “We believe that zero emission mobility is necessary to combat climate change,” and that “Our goal is a planet where all transportation is sustainable, clean, and electric!”

A Global Perspective on EV Trends

On the other hand, the study itself appears rather transparent. It includes responses from over 23,000 electric vehicle drivers in 18 countries including the USA, Canada, Austria, Brazil, France and India. On top of that, it weighs results based on each country’s share of the total EV fleet across the globe. This means that the results from the USA get weighted higher than those of, say, Sweden. That’s key because, in some smaller nations like Sweden, EV adoption rates are incredibly high.

By weighing the results, we get a more accurate picture of the reality EV owners are living in. According to almost all of them, electric cars are all they’ll buy from this point forward and that’s not all because of climate concerns either. Instead, nearly half of respondents (45 percent) championed the low operating cost of an EV when compared to a gas or diesel-powered car.

Climate friendliness was the second-biggest draw (40 percent), followed by helping the local environment (32 percent), solid driveability (21 percent), and lower maintenance costs (18 percent). In short: they’re cheaper to own, better to drive, and won’t leave your wallet crying every time you pull into a charging station (assuming it works, but we’ll get to that circus later).

Charging Woes Cast a Shadow

Here’s the part where the love affair stumbles: charging infrastructure. Or, more specifically, the lack of it. The study revealed that the biggest downside of driving an EV is the availability – or frequent unavailability – of fast chargers. This explains why Tesla, with its expansive Supercharger network, continues to dominate among buyers.

Read: Global EV Sales Shatter Records In November Thanks To China’s Unstoppable Growth

“When being asked about the disadvantages of driving an EV, the results indicate that the most significant drawbacks are the limited availability of fast chargers, the time-consuming nature of charging, and the frequent downtime of fast charging stations,” the study says. Certainly, that’s a major issue in the USA and clearly, Americans aren’t alone. 

Your Turn: Tell Us What You Think

Are you on the EV bandwagon yet? Or are you holding out for a fast-charging network that’s as reliable as your toaster and as conveniently located as your corner gas station? Whether you’re an EV diehard or still clutching your ICE keys like a security blanket, we want to hear from you. What’s your favorite thing about EVs, and what grinds your gears (figuratively, of course)? Drop your hot takes in the comments below. We’ll be here, pretending we’re not refreshing every five minutes for responses.

Image Credit: GEVA

Battery degradation is a serious problem, which can drastically reduce the range of older EVs or necessitate an expensive battery replacement. However, a new study by scientists at the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center suggests electric vehicle batteries could last significantly longer than previously expected.

According to Stanford’s summary, the way battery life cycles are typically calculated isn’t very good when it comes to EVs. This is because they assume a fairly constant discharge and recharge cycle, which doesn’t happen with vehicles.

More: Tesla Batteries Only Deliver 64% Of EPA Range After 3 Years, But There’s A Big Asterisk

Instead, EVs experience everything from short trips around town to long distance highway drives. There’s also stop and go traffic as well as lots of sitting around in a parking lot. Charging also varies as some owners might top off the battery every night, while others may wait days between sessions.

This relatively chaotic life is something that can’t easily be replicated in labs, so researchers created four discharge profiles based on driving data. With these in hand, they “tested 92 commercial lithium-ion batteries for more than two years” and found the more realistic the profile, the “higher EV life expectancy climbed.”

The study found some surprises including that sharp, short acceleration can lead to slower degradation. This is the opposite of what you’d expect to happen. Furthermore, the study showed regenerative braking and giving batteries a “rest” helps them last longer.

There are also important distinctions between time and cycles, when it comes to battery aging. Cycles are more important for EVs that are constantly in use such as taxis, buses, and delivery vans. For consumers, time is the ultimate enemy.

While you can read the full study here, researchers said automakers “could update their EV battery management software to take advantage of the new findings and to maximize battery longevity under real-world conditions.”

H/T to The Hill

Earlier this week, a Consumer Reports study showed that Tesla EVs were the least expensive cars to run over a 10-year period. But that doesn’t mean anyone buying one is in a for a decade of stress-free driving. Another study, this time published in Germany, has ranked the automaker’s Model 3 last for reliability for the second year running.

The TÜV test is a compulsory roadworthiness assessment – officially called the Hauptuntersuchung – that all cars being used on German roads must undergo every 24 months once they reach three years old. Inspectors check the condition and operation of everything from the chassis structure to the brakes, steering, suspension, lights and a huge list of other items.

Related: Ram Tops J.D. Power Quality Survey, But Dodge Drops From First To Last

It’s a tough test and one out of every five cars fails. Tesla’s Model 3 racked up more failures than any other car in the 2–3 and 4–5-year segments, primarily due to problems with its lights, brakes and suspension.

The TÜV notes that the last two are often a problem with EVs due to their weight compared with equivalent combustion-powered cars and the fact that much of the braking force is generated through energy recuperation, meaning the brakes don’t get enough of a workout to keep them in good order.

“The high mileage cannot disguise the poor performance of the Model 3,” said  Joachim Bühler, Managing Director of the TÜV Association. “In addition to defects in the brakes and axles, the Tesla also has a particularly high number of lighting defects. This indicates deficiencies in service and maintenance.”

LOSERS: LEAST RELIABLE CARS

The study also showed that the highest-quality EVs are those made by adapting existing combustion cars. VW’s e-Golf and the Mini Cooper SE, for instance, recorded far fewer faults than bespoke EVs like the Renault Zoe and Tesla Model 3.

The Model 3 was ranked worst in the 2-3 and 4-5-year-old category, with Dacia’s Dokker taking the 6-7 and 8-9 age group raspberries, the same company’s Logan coming bottom in the the 10-11 section, and sister company Renault’s Twingo getting the wooden spoon for 12-13-year-old cars.

At the other end of the scale, there was good news for anyone looking to buy a used Porsche, or a new one that they plan to keep for a long time. The 911 Carrera was rated top in all of the five age categories between 4-13 years. But proving that you don’t need to spend a fortune to buy a quality, reliable car, the Honda Jazz took gold in the 2-3-year category.

WINNERS: MOST RELIABLE CARS

Depreciation is a fact of life, but what you buy has a big impact on resale values down the line. To help consumers, J.D. Power has released their 2025 U.S. ALG Residual Value Awards which highlight the vehicles that are projected to hold the highest percentage of their manufacturer’s suggested retail price after three years of ownership.

The winners aren’t exactly a surprise as Honda and Lexus walked away with top honors for the fourth consecutive year. J.D. Power’s Danny Battaglia credited part of this success to Honda’s pricing discipline as well as Lexus’ restraint on incentives, which can negatively impact resale values of older vehicles.

More: 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Starts At $59,595

Besides being named the best premium brand, Lexus picked up the most model-level awards. Class honors went to the IS, LS, NX, RX, and TX. Their mainstream counterpart, Toyota, also picked up awards for the Camry and GR Supra as well as the Tundra and Land Cruiser.

Japanese models dominated the rankings as Honda scored wins for the Civic, Passport and Odyssey, while Subaru picked up accolades for the Crosstrek, Forester, and WRX. Other awards went to the Acura Integra and Nissan Kicks.

American brands might have played second fiddle, but GM racked up five wins. The Chevrolet Corvette was named the best “midsize premium sporty car,” while the Cadillac Escalade was the best large premium SUV. GMC also picked up awards for the Sierra 3500 HD as well as the Hummer EV Pickup and SUV.

Interestingly, the soon to be launched Dodge Charger Daytona was named the best electric car. While it remains to be seen what resale values will look like three years from now, electric coupes are virtually unheard of in America so the Charger Daytona doesn’t really have any competition.

Sticking with EVs, the Tesla Model 3 was dubbed the best premium electric car. The Hyundai Kona EV, on the other hand, was named best electric SUV.

Awards were also given to the BMW X1 and 5-Series, Jeep Gladiator and Wagoneer, and Kia Telluride. Mercedes’ only win was for the Sprinter, which took the commercial van class.

Australia has joined the growing band of countries whose car buyers are finding themselves turned off to the idea of splashing out on an EV. Sales of electric cars in the country dropped by 25 percent in the three months to October, new data from the Australian Automobile Association reveals.

EV registrations fell from from 25,353 in Q2 to 18,990 units in Q3, taking battery vehicles’ share of the car market down from 8.1 percent to just 6.6 percent, the lowest it’s been in two years. The overall car market was down by a far less dramatic 7.6 percent in the same period.

Related: EV Sales Drop 10.8% In EU As Buyers Flock To Hybrids

Those EV refuseniks aren’t all jumping back into plain-old combustion cars – petrol sales didn’t fall as badly as EV registrations, but were still down 9.2 percent. Instead, they’re increasingly switching their focus from full electric to partially-electric. Sales of hybrids improved by 3.3 percent in Q3 from 46,727 to 48,282 units, but sales of plug-in-hybrids grew by a shocking 56 percent.

Modern PHEVs now offer such long electric ranges that many buyers find they can cover all of their commuting on battery power, and still have the security of a gas tank and combustion engine. But analysts think the main reason for the switch from EVs to hybrids is a financial one.

Rebates for fully electric cars have been removed everywhere in the country except Western Australia, creating a disincentive for buyers. But PHEVs are still exempt from fringe benefits tax until April 2025, potentially saving drivers thousands of dollars on a lease, the AAA explains.

“There have been significant quarterly fluctuations over the past seven quarters, but sales figures over that period confirm a clear trend of growth for hybrids, while battery electric vehicle market share appears to have peaked for now,” the AAA said.

“In the first half of 2023, battery electric vehicles outsold hybrids, but since then hybrids have outsold battery electric vehicles in five consecutive quarters.”

Source: Australian Automobile Association
Images: Brad Anderson for Carscoops

America is a deeply divided country, but there’s one thing that unites all of us – hatred of car dealers. However, a new study suggests things are getting slightly better.

According to J.D. Power, overall customer satisfaction with purchasing a vehicle climbed from a score of 793 last year to 801 in 2024. That’s basically an 80% grade as scores are based on a 1,000 point scale.

More: Study Finds 25% Of Car Buyers Won’t Return To Dealership That Charged Above MSRP

So what’s behind the improvement? Pricing and inventory. The shortages and markups from the pandemic have largely subsided, meaning some of the power has shifted from dealers back to consumers.

Given these developments, it’s not surprising to learn the number of people paying over MSRP has dropped significantly. J.D. Power says 15% of mass market buyers paid over sticker last year, but that number dropped to 8% in 2024. For premium buyers, the number fell from 10% to 6%.

While everyone can get onboard with lower prices, dealers still have a lot of work to do in regards to personnel, paperwork, and delivery. It also appears the EV buying experience is significantly worse than that of an ICE-powered vehicle.

The buyer satisfaction score for mass market ICE-powered vehicles was 857, but just 822 for EVs. J.D. Power also noted a “similar pattern exists among buyers of premium vehicles.”

Part of this appears to be a lack of dealership employees knowledgeable about electric vehicles. However, even Tesla buyers had “markedly lower satisfaction with the effectiveness of the vehicle features explanation.”

Among premium brands, sales satisfaction was highest at Porsche. They were followed by Infiniti and Jaguar. Genesis got a dismal rating of 781, while Alfa Romeo was second to last with a significantly higher score of 810. That put them two points behind Mercedes and Lexus.

On the mainstream side of things, top honors went to Mini, Buick, and Subaru. Chrysler, Mitsubishi, and Toyota were the worst.

If you wanted to start work at 18 with confidence that you could put in 45 or 50 years before sailing off to a happy, comfortable retirement, a job in the German auto industry always seemed like a solid bet. People are always going to want Golfs, right? But a new study says that thinking is outdated and reckons hundreds of thousands of workers could be left unemployed in as little as a decade, with EVs shouldering much of the blame.

In the same week VW asked workers to take a 10 percent pay cut to save their own jobs, an investigation by Prognos suggests it might only be delaying the inevitable. The report predicts the switch to electrification would reduce the number of workers in the German auto sector by 186,000 in 2035 compared with 2019 levels.

Related: VW Wants To Eliminate Bonuses And Cut Wages By 10%

The headcount reduction is mostly, but not exclusively, the result of the ‘drive systems’ of electric cars requiring fewer components than their combustion predecessors, meaning that both automaker employees and those working in the supplier industry risk losing their positions.

Jobs related to welding and metal processing, as well as business management and administration, will become more scarce, the report claims, but automakers will need to recruit more people working in IT, in electrical engineering and also (perhaps surprisingly) in mechanical engineering. Overall, though, more jobs will be lost than created, so while workers at risk would be wise to retrain, there still won’t be enough roles in 2035 for everyone currently employed in the auto industry.

The Prognos report says that the transition in the makeup of jobs at German automakers has been going on for the past few years, but will pick up steam over the next 10. And nowhere is evidence of the shift clearer than at VW, which this week asked its employees to take a pay cut and could be about to close three factories having never previously shut a plant in the company’s entire history. In fact, only a few days ago it was reported that Audi will shut down its Brussels plant, where the Q8 e-tron is manufactured, in February 2025.

VW chiefs claim that radical steps must be taken to help the company navigate its way through some tough times. And workers must be prepared to make some sacrifices in the short term if they’re to have any hope of safeguarding jobs in the long term.

“We urgently need a reduction in labor costs in order to maintain our competitiveness. This requires a contribution from the workforce,” Arne Meiswinkel, the VW brand’s personnel boss said, according to Reuters.

The automaker is struggling with a perfect storm of rising costs, a slower than expected uptake for its EVs in Europe and the US, and declining market share in China.

Analysts often tell us that the high price of EVs is one of the main reasons they’re not selling in the volumes automakers had hoped for. But that thinking doesn’t apply to the Tesla Cybertruck, whose sales are surging despite a six-figure price. It seems that, for a certain type of buyer, the Cybertruck’s brute, sci-fi appeal is well worth the price of admission.

Cybertrucks found 16,692 new owners in the US in Q3, making the pickup the country’s third most popular EV, according to data from Kelley Blue Book. Its move into the number three spot came at the expense of the Ford Mustang Mach-E, whose sales dropped by almost 10 percent to 13,392. Honda’s Prologue bagged fifth place with 12,644 units sold and 11,590 Americans bough the sixth-placed Hyundai Ioniq 5.

Related: EV Discounts Drive U.S. Record Sales Boom In Q3, But Can It Last?

As if you hadn’t already guessed, the Cybertruck’s Q3 performance also completed Tesla’s lock-out of the EV sales chart’s top three positions. But the angular truck has a long way to go before it can think of ascending to first or second spot. Second place in the Jul-Sept period went to the freshly facelifted Model 3, whose sales climbed 9.7 percent to 58,423, and the Model 3 hung onto first despite its deliveries dropping 9.1 percent to 86,801.

Other Q3 EV winners include the Cadillac Lyriq (up 139.4 percent to 7,224 units), Ford F-150 Lightning (up 104.5 percent but still miles behind the Cybertruck at 7,162), Nissan Leaf (up 187.5 percent to 4,514) and Lexus RZ (up 96.7 percent to 2,742). Toyota bZ4X sales also improved by 45.3 percent to 4,109 in a period where its Subaru Solterra twin made a more modest 34.4 percent gain to 3,752.

But not everyone can be a winner. VW ID.4 sales dropped 57.8 percent to 4,518, the Tesla Model S plummeted 46.7 percent to 1,669, Hyundai’s Ioniq 6 lost 56.9 percent of its sales, which fell to 2,158,  the Audi A8 e-tron found only 1,745 buyers (down 51.5 percent) and BMW’s i7 slipped 47 percent to just 573. America’s least popular EV was the Genesis G80. Only 155 people bought one of those, 67.1 percent fewer than in Q3 2023.

When looking at sales by brand, it’s no surprise that Tesla reigns supreme with 166,923 cars sold. Ford trails far behind in second place with 23,509 units (up 12 percent), while Chevrolet, with a 25.6 percent sales boost, rounds out the top three with 19,993 units.

US EV SALES Q3

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US EV SALES YTD (Q1-Q3)

China’s unrelenting enthusiasm for electrified vehicles turned September into a record-smashing month for global sales, even as some markets wallow in the usual doom and gloom.

Worldwide deliveries of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) surged 30.5 percent, bringing the total to 1.7 million units. A staggering 1.1 million of them were snapped up by buyers in China, where sales jumped 47.9 percent, according to Rho Motion data reported by Reuters. September was the second consecutive month in which China’s electrified sales hit seven figures.

Related: US EV Sales Soar Thanks To Generous Incentives

Sales were less spectacular in other parts of the world, but they were at least heading in the right direction – or the wrong direction if you’re a diehard combustion lover. North American sales were up 4.3 percent to 0.15 million, and in Europe they increased 4.2 percent to 0.3 million, spurred on in large part thanks to a 24 percent uplift in the UK and smaller gains in Italy and Germany.

China’s two consecutive bumper months have helped push global electrified sales for the first nine months of the year to 11.5 million, up 22 percent on the same period in 2022. Breaking those numbers down into regions reveals that China sales exploded by 35 percent to 7.2 million in January to September and the US and Canada increased its electrified take-up by 10 percent to 1.3 million.

The ‘rest of the world’ (anywhere that isn’t North America, Europe or China) moved 25 percent more units, shifting 0.9 million BEVs and PHEVs. But Europe, the next biggest region by volume for electrified cars after China, dropped 4 percent to 2.2 million.

“This record-breaking month of EV sales brings new hope to the industry,” claimed Rho Motion’s data manager, Charles Lester. “While the electrification of transport seems inevitable, the recent slowdown of sales in many parts of the world has sewn seeds of doubt which can now start to be swept aside.”

Sources: Reuters, Rho Motion

Consumers haven’t exactly embraced plug-in hybrids (PHEV) the way some automakers might have hoped, with many seeing them as a compromised stopgap—a halfway house that combines the worst of both worlds. They’re pricier than traditional hybrids and don’t quite match the ownership experience of a full electric vehicle, leaving many buyers wondering what exactly they’re paying for.

In the US, PHEVs accounted for a paltry 1.9% of total new vehicle sales through August. To put that into perspective, EVs had a 9.4% share of the total market, while conventional hybrids managed a respectable 10.7%. And it’s not for lack of options—there are currently 41 different PHEVs available in the U.S., a smattering more than the 39 conventional hybrids on sale and just a little shy of the 60 EVs offered.

Read: Nissan Rogue PHEV Coming In 2025, Range-Extended EVs To Follow

So, what’s holding PHEVs back? Well, several reasons provide insight into why PHEVs are not thriving. First and foremost is the cost. A new study from J.D. Power reveals the average customer-facing transaction price (CFTP) from January to August for a PHEV in the compact SUV segment was $48,700. That’s significantly more expensive than the average CTFP of $36,900 for a compact electric SUV and the average CFTP of $37,700 for a comparable hybrid. Paying more for something that feels like a compromise isn’t exactly a winning value proposition.

Low Satisfaction, High Costs

Then there’s customer satisfaction—or lack thereof. The latest J.D. Power U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Ownership Study paints a bleak picture, with overall satisfaction for PHEVs landing at just 669 points on a 1,000-point scale. For comparison, mass-market EVs scored a more commendable 716, while premium EVs climbed higher still at 738.

Part of the dissatisfaction stems from unexpected costs. Many PHEV owners are finding that their vehicles come with higher-than-anticipated ownership expenses, and the dual demands of fueling and charging two power sources are proving more of a hassle than anticipated. Many consumers also don’t feel they are getting enough for their money when buying a plug-in hybrid, particularly since they often don’t look any different than non-hybridized versions of the same model.

Read: Mercedes Hybrid Owner Left Fuming When Told $17,000 Car Needs A New $20,000 Battery

“There’s been a lot of focus on creating intermediary steps for consumers who may not be ready to fully adopt a battery-electric vehicle yet,” J.D. Power’s EV practice executive director Brent Gruber told Auto News. “Plug-in hybrids have their merits for certain people, but when you look at that ownership experience, it’s certainly not as positive as battery-electric vehicle ownership experiences.”

The Future of PHEVs

Ultimately, plug-in hybrids face an uphill battle convincing buyers they’re worth higher price tag and complexity. Factor in the sky-high cost of battery replacements post-warranty—something we’ve highlighted before—and the steep depreciation they often suffer, and it’s easy to see why many consumers might be inclined to stick with more traditional options instead.