Letters to the Editor: Electric vehicles aren’t expensive when you consider external costs
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- EV price comparisons that ignore external costs — like health and climate impacts — undervalue their true value, with traditional metrics essentially pricing human life at zero.
- Used Tesla Model 3s priced at $20,000 outperform new gas vehicles costing double, suggesting the used EV market offers overlooked affordability advantages.
- Journalists covering EVs should employ attribution science to account for previously uncounted external costs in traditional price comparisons.
To the editor: I want to raise an issue with one thing the author wrote: “A new [electric vehicle] costs about $8,000 more on average than a gas car, according to Kelley Blue Book” (“The great EV retreat of 2025,” Oct. 30).
This is a completely irrelevant metric. Not only does it leave out massive external costs, it ignores the fast-growing used EV market.
Keep in mind that when external costs are not considered in making calculations about cost comparisons, that means human life is valued at $0. Attribution science is a thing now. It puts numbers to these costs. Journalists talking about climate need to start using it.
Nobody buys the “average” car. They get a vehicle that satisfies certain desires and needs. You can buy a used Tesla Model 3 for $20,000 that is light-years better than any new $40,000 gas car you can name. I challenge anyone to find one you think is better.
I hope this criticism will be taken constructively and that the Los Angeles Times will stop perpetuating the myth that electric cars are expensive. They aren’t and haven’t been for many years.
Paul Scott, Santa Monica
This writer is co-founder of electric vehicle advocacy group Plug In America.
