EVs are the only cars you can get a deal on right now

• If you're looking for a discount on a car, you might want to consider an EV.

• Clearance deals on bloated EV inventory may help adoption.

• Tesla price cuts have led an industry-wide downward trend in EV prices this year.

Cars are more expensive than they've ever been — and that's good news for the electric vehicle market.

After about three years of steady momentum in the EV market, there are signs that its growth may be easing. Wealthy early adopters have largely made their purchases and now electric car sellers face the challenge of converting more average and price-conscious customers to EVs.

Several barriers to entry still stand in the way of EV purchases for most car shoppers, including range anxiety and access to charging. But a slew of deals on EVs this past year may help soften the pricing barrier for some shoppers.

As car companies produce more EVs than ever, these cars are starting to pile up on dealer lots for the first time. Any glut of inventory usually comes with clearance sales of some kind — an EV trend that started at the beginning of this year with Tesla CEO Elon Musk slashing prices of the slow-moving Model S and Model 3 sedans.

On average, electric cars were selling for around $2,000 over sticker price last year, according to Jessica Caldwell, an automotive analyst for Edmunds. This year, average transaction prices for non-Tesla EVs are coming in about $1,600 below sticker prices.

"We're definitely seeing a slowdown for the mainstream EV brands," Caldwell said. "Part of that is Tesla flooding the market with cheaper models."

Looking for a discount? You might want to shop electric

In addition to the Tesla effect, an easing of the EV supply chain woes that have driven up costs for the last few years is likely to start to drive down EV prices.

Automakers were ambitious with their EV prices in an attempt to reduce their losses from the vehicles, but early EV battery supply chains haven't helped matters. The cost of crucial battery minerals, and the widespread industry demand for those materials, sent costs skyrocketing. As the EV industry scales more and more, the natural progression (albeit slow) is that battery pricing — largely to blame for the overall high cost — will come down.