Electric vehicles are shedding over half their value within just two years, driven by a wave of steep discounts from carmaker. The Telegraphhas more.
A typical EV now retains only 49% of its value after 24 months, a sharp decline from 83% as recently as 2022, according to Cox Automotive.
For a new car bought for £40,000, this would translate to a value of just £19,600 after two years.
The 51% depreciation figure compares with an average of only 30% for diesel and petrol cars, as shown in the bar chart below
Cox Automotive said the faster rate of depreciation among “nearly-new” EVs was being driven by the discount wars being fought by manufacturers, which have been aggressively cutting prices to help them meet Net Zero sales targets.
Under the so-called zero emission vehicle (ZEV) rules which are mandated by the Government, 28% of new car sales are meant to be electric this year with the target set to rise gradually until it reaches 80% in 2030.
The falling value of EVs is also being accelerated by the growing range of cheaper models available on the market.
The average price of a second-hand EV fell from £39,849 to £24,908 between April 2022 and April 2025, according to Autotrader. …
Brands made price cuts worth £4 billion on new cars last year, equivalent to a discount of about £11,000 per car, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Out of interest, I looked at 2nd hand Fisker Oceans following the story about a bunch of them being abandoned after the company went into admin. There are some very ambitious asking prices, and I feel sorry for anybody trying to shift one of those lemons now, they’re in line to lose tens of thousands.
They’ll be lucky to get anything, given how connected these ‘appliances’ are to the wider world. Without support from the manufacturer, you’d need to be crazy to buy such a niche brand, let alone it being ev. Only good for weighing in, and even then you’d have to pay the scrappy to do it, due to risk of battery fires!
soundofreason
10 months ago
Now why would a 2 year old car be so difficult to sell that the price falls so dramatically?There’s a clue in here somewhere.
In essence people have been using those cars for a couple of years and don’t want them any more – it does not matter whether we’re talking about individuals, traders or fleet operators.
I was going to write that you couldn’t pay me to have one, but I guess everything has a price. But you’d need to pay me a lot. You were able to get some quite attractive deals through work – subsidised by the taxpayer. My friend who had one gave it back when the initial term was up and bought a cheap secondhand petrol car instead.
Exactly – as with all the net zero bollocks, the only way it can make any sort of sense is to throw our money at it to manipulate the market – remove the subsidies, and practicality comes back to the fore.
Interestingly market manipulation in other areas is highly illegal, but not when the governments do it with subsidies
“The depreciation figure compares with an average of 70% for diesel and petrol cars.”
Nope. The depreciation according to the graph for petrol/diesel is 30%, if they retain 70% of their value as shown on the graph.
I blame the schools.
And it’s not discounting new vehicles, it the fact that people don’t want them new if used – particularly not used because of concerns about battery life, efficiency and replacement cost.
Another factor is the method by which duty/tax rates are calculated. Is it not the original sales price that is used to do the sums? Even if you buy an old one, you might still have to pay more road tax, compared with buying a newer, lower tax one (unless they change the rate margins).
It seems to me that electric cars are a Trojan Horse being used to bring in the end of the era of free unfettered private motoring, the end of travel freedom for much of us hoi-polloi. Electric cars only seem to work if you can lease one or rent one or have one for free, what you do not want to do is own one yourself. Electric cars will be corporate vehicles and rich people’s vehicles, they are not the vehicle for people who currently take their family on holiday in a slightly dodgy old Ford Focus.
The other aspect of Electric Cars that is not mentioned much is what happens to them at the end of their miserable lives? Recycling electric cars is expensive and complex, eventually the difficulty in handling dead electric cars could stifle the whole dismal business.
Spot on ! A documentary detailing the whole process of EV manufacture from the very start ( kids digging bare handed for rare resources) to the last dust of disposal would clear the air somewhat.
With a fire scene after a crash where the EV smart-car doors lock themselves and cant be opened manually from outside…….Or for more squeamish viewers, a battery fire on the car deck of a densely packed ferry.
Depreciation would reach minus territory – you’d have to pay someone to take the stupid things away. Keep an eye on hydrogen, that seems to be the coming thing
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Out of interest, I looked at 2nd hand Fisker Oceans following the story about a bunch of them being abandoned after the company went into admin. There are some very ambitious asking prices, and I feel sorry for anybody trying to shift one of those lemons now, they’re in line to lose tens of thousands.
They’ll be lucky to get anything, given how connected these ‘appliances’ are to the wider world. Without support from the manufacturer, you’d need to be crazy to buy such a niche brand, let alone it being ev. Only good for weighing in, and even then you’d have to pay the scrappy to do it, due to risk of battery fires!
Now why would a 2 year old car be so difficult to sell that the price falls so dramatically?There’s a clue in here somewhere.
In essence people have been using those cars for a couple of years and don’t want them any more – it does not matter whether we’re talking about individuals, traders or fleet operators.
I was going to write that you couldn’t pay me to have one, but I guess everything has a price. But you’d need to pay me a lot. You were able to get some quite attractive deals through work – subsidised by the taxpayer. My friend who had one gave it back when the initial term was up and bought a cheap secondhand petrol car instead.
Exactly – as with all the net zero bollocks, the only way it can make any sort of sense is to throw our money at it to manipulate the market – remove the subsidies, and practicality comes back to the fore.
Interestingly market manipulation in other areas is highly illegal, but not when the governments do it with subsidies
“The depreciation figure compares with an average of 70% for diesel and petrol cars.”
Nope. The depreciation according to the graph for petrol/diesel is 30%, if they retain 70% of their value as shown on the graph.
I blame the schools.
And it’s not discounting new vehicles, it the fact that people don’t want them new if used – particularly not used because of concerns about battery life, efficiency and replacement cost.
Moderator here: You are right, the original 70/30 text was a little misleading, and I have amended the artticle to make it clearer [I hope]
Another factor is the method by which duty/tax rates are calculated. Is it not the original sales price that is used to do the sums? Even if you buy an old one, you might still have to pay more road tax, compared with buying a newer, lower tax one (unless they change the rate margins).
It seems to me that electric cars are a Trojan Horse being used to bring in the end of the era of free unfettered private motoring, the end of travel freedom for much of us hoi-polloi. Electric cars only seem to work if you can lease one or rent one or have one for free, what you do not want to do is own one yourself. Electric cars will be corporate vehicles and rich people’s vehicles, they are not the vehicle for people who currently take their family on holiday in a slightly dodgy old Ford Focus.
The other aspect of Electric Cars that is not mentioned much is what happens to them at the end of their miserable lives? Recycling electric cars is expensive and complex, eventually the difficulty in handling dead electric cars could stifle the whole dismal business.
Just imagine how much it will cost you to scrap a battery car. I suppose you could just remove the identifiers, take it somewhere and burn it….
its not as if they’re difficult to burn. Just difficult to put out. 😳
Nah. Far too difficult. Just report it stolen.
I predict they are going to end up on fire in field gateways across the country in a couple of years time. I hope I am wrong.
Spot on ! A documentary detailing the whole process of EV manufacture from the very start ( kids digging bare handed for rare resources) to the last dust of disposal would clear the air somewhat.
With a fire scene after a crash where the EV smart-car doors lock themselves and cant be opened manually from outside…….Or for more squeamish viewers, a battery fire on the car deck of a densely packed ferry.
Depreciation would reach minus territory – you’d have to pay someone to take the stupid things away. Keep an eye on hydrogen, that seems to be the coming thing
😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂