News Summary

• While the average sale price of a new vehicle – gasoline or electric – hovers around $48,000, automakers like General Motors, Ford, Hyundai, Kia and Volkswagen have all introduced a variety of electric vehicles that come in significantly below that figure.
• Due to a quirk in America’s tax laws, if the vehicle is being leased, rather than purchased, the full $7,500 tax credit can be used for most new electric vehicles.
• That low price, with the tax credit, can translate to a monthly lease in the $400 range or less if you trade in a vehicle or make a down payment, a “capitalized cost reduction” or “cap cost reduction,” in leasing lingo, according to Edmunds.com’s lease calculator.
• Because it’s been purchased by a company, any car you lease is a “commercial vehicle” and gets the benefit of more lax tax rules for commercial vehicle purchases, explained Mark Luxcombe, principal analyst with the tax and accounting firm Wolters Kluwer.
• Thanks to a combination of new models, more production and new tax laws, electric vehicles are no longer just for the wealthy.
• That’s not because electric vehicles are selling poorly, said Brian Moody, executive editor at Autotrader, but because carmakers are introducing more new models while production of vehicles of all sorts is increasing.