You Can Buy a $8,800 Chinese EV on Alibaba. But Should You?

With the discontinuation of GM's Chevy Bolt coming at the end of 2023, American car buyers might soon be lacking an affordable EV option. But for those feeling adventurous, there is one place where you can buy perhaps the cheapest EV you'll ever see -- Alibaba.

In case you don't know, Alibaba is China's largest ecommerce site, composed of millions of merchants and businesses. It's like eBay, except bigger, quirkier, and filled with random merchandise that you likely won't find anywhere else. Like, for example, a $8,800 electric vehicle.

Right now, you can find the BYD Seagull -- which is roughly equivalent to the Chevy Bolt -- listed for $8,790 on Alibaba. In fact, you can find a variety of EVs priced from as low as $4,000 all the way up to $15,000 or more.

At that price, you'd be paying about $11,210 less than America's cheapest EV (the Chevy Bolt, roughly $20,000 after the $7,500 EV tax credit) and $7,040 less than America's cheapest car -- the Nissan Versa, which lists for $15,830.

That sounds amazing, right? Well, unfortunately, if you're buying an EV from China, you're going to pay more than $8,790.

The list price isn't the exact price you'll pay

The most significant cost to consider is the Trump-era 27.5% tariff on Chinese imported vehicles. For the BYD Seagull, that tariff would bump up the cost of the $8,790 EV by about $2,400, to roughly $11,200.

That's still cheaper than an American EV, but then you'll have to pay for international shipping, which could range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on which port you ship it to. Shipping a car to Miami, for example, would likely cost more than shipping the same vehicle to Los Angeles. You might also pay fees to a customs agent or firm, if you import the vehicle through a broker rather than on your own.

Even after we factor in tariffs, shipping, and fees, a $8,790 car on Alibaba will still likely be cheaper than buying a similar car in the U.S. But before you make this decision, there are still other costs you should keep in mind.

The hidden costs of Chinese vehicles

Right now, no Chinese auto or parts maker has set up shop in the U.S. That means if you need car parts, you'll have to import them from China, which will make fixing your car more expensive -- especially since you'll pay a tariff on any parts you import. The lack of available parts could also cascade into other personal finance areas, like car insurance and labor, which will likely cost you more as a result.

You'll also want to consider who you're buying the car from and if you can trust them to deliver on their promises. That said, several Americans have done it before (you can read their stories on the electric vehicle site Electrek), and they've described the process as being surprisingly smooth. Typically you can purchase the vehicle through the app with Apple Pay or a credit card, and the app will even translate Chinese into English and vice versa.

That said, you're still buying a car through an app without seeing, inspecting, or test driving it beforehand. And though Alibaba has spent millions of dollars squirreling out fraudsters and counterfeit listings, there's always the risk that what you're buying is not a car at all but merely the idea of a cheap EV.

Even so, you can certainly buy an affordable EV on Alibaba, even if it's not as cheap as the listing price makes it seem. It will be a hassle to import the car into the States, and perhaps an ever bigger nuisance maintaining and fixing the car. It might not be wise to buy one as your primary car but might be fine as a secondary vehicle, like one that you drive occasionally through a city. In this way, Alibaba could present you with an opportunity to buy an EV cheaply.