A good electric model (read: not a toy) will cost more than a comparable one up front...

The best example so far that i have seen in real life is in helicopters...because we dont have any electric plane guys (other than me and some others guys' suped up strykers, but those are still toys to play with in between flights on our glow planes) where i fly..

A guy at our feild has a joke (a 90 sized electric helicopter) the frame alone is about 1000 bux...so pick something in the 90 glow helis thats around 1000 (Tehre are a few) now you can finish out a glow heli for about 800 more at that size (digital servos, good gyro)

But the kicker comes in the fact that the 2 batteries he needs to fly (2 at once) are $400 a peice. The charger to charge them was $800. The motor was $600. The esc, another $250 ....so thats $2050 extra before you even buy 5 digital servos and a good gyro...ouch...

The advantage for him though, is he does arial photography/video...and there is almost no vibration in that bird, and he can fly for about 40 minutes on a charge...vs 10-15 on a tank of gas...

So it really comes do to paying more now, or paying more later....