I suspect they probably already are cheaper over the lifetime of the product. Of course there’s also a lot of value in the upfront cost coming closer, but there are other problems at play.

First and foremost: the culture wars. The right-wing loves to make a big fuss at how poor and inadequate anything that might be better for the environment is. And EVs have been a huge target of this.

There’s also range anxiety. Australia doesn’t have the best fast-charger network for those rare long-distance trips, and far too many people make their purchase based on what they might need for a trip they take less than once per year.

And then there’s dealers. There have been many reports of dealers discouraging people from getting EVs. Probably because they make a lot of their money on aftermarket servicing, which EVs need a lot less of than ICE cars. So it’s in their best interest to avoid EVs.