EV maker Tesla on Wednesday raised prices of its U.S. Model Y crossovers and Model 3 Long Range sedans by $1,000 each and some China-made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles $1,582.40.
The company increased prices for the most affordable versions of Model 3 and Model Y about a dozen times last year in the United States, according to data tracked by Reuters.
The U.S. price of the EV maker’s Model Y Long Range car has jumped 20 percent from January 2021, along with a 10.6 percent hike for its Model 3 Long Range sedan during the same period.
The move comes amid surging raw material costs, made worse by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and could set back the dream of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other auto executives to roll out more affordable electric vehicles.
Rising prices of nickel, lithium and other materials threaten to slow and even temporarily reverse the long-term trend of falling costs of batteries — the most expensive part of EVs — hampering the broader adoption of the technology, said Gregory Miller, an analyst at industry forecaster Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
