Surprise: EVs Losing Up To 50% Of Their Value In The First Year

This is really not surprising, as manufacturers, and government, are throwing huge piles of cash at them, giving insane discounts that mean huge losses. Hence, EVs are worth way less, because why would someone pay at the normal depreciation rate for a used one instead of getting new?

EVs Are Losing Up to 50 Percent of Their Value in One Year

Electric vehicle depreciation is something of a hot topic right now, and for good reason. On one hand, there are some fantastic deals to be had on the secondhand market, but on the other of course, there’s the thorny issue of some EVs losing half of their value in a single year.

Cars losing you a chunk of cash the instant they’re driven off the dealer lot is nothing new, especially at the pricier end of the market. And if you intend to keep your shiny new EV for a long time, then its worth after just a year or two matters far less. But what if you’ve experimented with your first EV then decided its range or your local charging infrastructure isn’t up to scratch, and want to sell within the first year? If that’s you, you’d better be prepared for a significant loss.

In a bid not to tar all EVs with the same brush, we’ve aimed to be balanced in our approach to discovering trade-in valuations. There’s plenty of color to be reported here, too—like the US dealer who actively warned our reporter against selling him their EV, or the story of a Mercedes EQE that lost more than $600 each day—but for now let us deliver the cold, hard numbers.

It’s a long article that provides lots of data. Unfortunately, it tends to focus on the luxury and high end EVs in the EU and the US, not so much the lower end EVs.

While undoubtedly a concern for anyone who plans to sell their nearly-new EV, the data is great news for secondhand buyers. From a £5,000 ($6,400) Renault Zoe and £12,000 ($15,000) Citroen e-C4 to a $25,000 Polestar 2 or a $30,000 Jaguar I-Pace, there are amazing deals to be had. And, what’s more, EV batteries are lasting longer than expected, according to Recurrent, whose community of 20,000 EV drivers states just 2.5 percent of battery packs have been replaced outside of manufacturer recalls.

Of course, how many trust buying a used EV? Perhaps a Tesla, but, most others? It was only 15 years ago when people didn’t trust buying a used hybrid, including the best selling Prius, used with 30K to 36K miles on them.

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