Vehicle Characteristics and Their Association with US Electric Vehicle Prices, Model Year 2025

Electric vehicles are rapidly reshaping the automotive market, yet the factors associated with their prices remain poorly understood. This paper investigates which vehicle characteristics, such as battery size, driving range, charging speed, and fuel efficiency, are associated with electric vehicle prices in the US market, using data on 108 electric vehicles from the 2025 model year. Multiple statistical models are built and compared to identify which features matter for pricing. The results show that while battery capacity appears important on its own, this relationship disappears once brand identity, alongside other variables, is accounted for. Manufacturer identity emerges as the dominant factor associated with price variation across all models, with DC fast charging rate and fuel efficiency the only vehicle-level features that consistently predict which features are most strongly associated with price once others are controlled for. Driving range, despite being one of the most heavily marketed EV specifications, shows no reliable relationship with price once other factors are controlled for, suggesting that what manufacturers advertise and what is actually correlated with pricing are two different things.