Cost Almost $30,000
Edmunds.com, an auto-researcher, predicts electric vehicles may reach only 7 percent of U.S. auto sales by 2017 even when consumers take rising gas prices into account.
The average U.S. gas price was $3.91 as of April 15, according to U.S. motorist group AAA. That's a 19 percent increase for this year.
Passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. have been getting more fuel-efficient, with the average miles-per-gallon rating rising to 24.5 last month compared with 21.4 four years earlier, according to data compiled by Edmunds.com. Small cars as a percent of U.S. sales gained 3 percentage points to 23 percent, according to the data.
In that time, the average transaction price for an advanced-drive vehicle rose 6.5 percent to $29,493 from $27,693, according to the Santa Monica, California-based researcher.