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Electric Vehicles Take

Bigger Slice

of Automotive

Lending in Q4

BY JIM HENRY, WARD’S AUTO

The electric-vehicle share of auto financing roughly
doubled in fourth-quarter 2021, compared with a
year earlier, as EV offerings expand among the more
mainstream brands and into more product segments,
Experian Automotive says.
“The share got doubled year-over-year. Of course,
that’s with a broader variety of vehicles and a bit more
affordable price point,” says Melinda Zabritski, Experian
Automotive senior director of automotive financial
solutions.
The EV share of loan and lease originations in the
“ fourth quarter was about 4.6%, vs. 2.3% in like-2020.
Even with the increase, the Tesla brand still dominates
The EV share of loan the segment, and the average price point remains high for
and lease originations EVs, Zabritski tells Wards.
in the fourth quarter According to Experian, the average loan monthly
payment for an EV in the fourth quarter was $744, up
was about 4.6%, vs. slightly from $738 a year ago. However, the trend for
2.3% in like-2020. the last few years is toward lower payments on EVs. In

Even with the fourth-quarter 2017, the average monthly payment for an
EV was $977.
increase, the Tesla Average lease payments for EVs shows the opposite
brand still dominates trend. At only $281 four years ago, lease payments
the segment. averaged $688 in Q4 2021, almost as much as the overall
average loan payment. This probably reflects lower lease
incentives, Zabritski says.
For the industry as a whole, the average new-vehicle
monthly loan payment was $644 in Q4, up from $579 a
year ago.
“With supply and demand what it is, incentives are
kind of not needed,” she says. “Leasing is down overall.”
For the overall U.S. market, leasing accounts for 23.8%
of new-vehicle originations in the fourth quarter, down
from 27.7% a year ago. For EVs, leasing fell to a 27.7%
share in Q4, down from 31.8% a year ago, Experian says.
Three Tesla models accounted for more than 75% of
EV loans and leases in the fourth quarter: the Model 3, at
36.6%; the Model Y at 34.2%; and the Model S, at 5.3%.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E, at 6%, and the Volkswagen
ID.4, at 3.4%, account for the rest of the Top 5 most-
financed EVs, Experian says. n

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