The reason electric cars cost more than traditional cars is because electric car battery packs still cost thousands more than internal combustion engines. Oscar Gutierrez of Community Chevrolet in Burbank under the hood of a Bolt electric car. Federal subsidies wind down once an automaker sells a total of 200,000 electric cars. Ting defended the used car rebate as a way to broaden the demographics of electric car owners. That has led to speculation that the system could be exploited to buy cars in California with state rebates and sell them for thousands more elsewhere.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 26, 2017 12:02 UTC