EV Discussion thread

Martyn1981

I only skim read this article, but it seems to be quite detailed and informative:

‘Spectacular bargains’: why now is a great time to buy a used electric car in the UK

In the last year, forecourt prices for used electric cars have tumbled to the extent that previously unaffordable models are now within the reach of many families for the first time.

Values have fallen so much that two weeks ago Auto Trader said they had reached near-parity with petrol cars. The average price of a three- to five-year-old EV in July was £18,964, compared with £18,076 for petrol models of the same age, it said.

“Cars that have proved reliable, with batteries offering close to the range that they had when new – many with several years’ warranty left – can be bought for a fraction of their new price.”

Asked which electric car he would recommend to a family for under £15,000, he’s unequivocal in his recommendation of the 64kWh-batteried Kia e-Niro.

“These cars are really efficient, have a good range – of about 250 miles, depending on conditions – and have proved reliable both mechanically and for battery life,” he says.

“Many will have the balance of the original seven-year warranty. If you do a lot of long journeys and will have to rely on the public chargers away from home, then you may want to opt for a Tesla, which gains you access to its fast-charging network. But for those looking for the maximum car for the money, the e-Niro really delivers.”

Smith says another model for the price-conscious EV buyer to consider is the MG5, which is a traditional-looking estate car. Cleevely Electric Vehicles has seven mobile mechanics who tour the UK in these models servicing cars, and he says they have proved very reliable – in several cases doing more than 200,000 miles without any major problem.

He says buyers need not be put off by relatively higher mileage EVs even though there is a perception they are a risk because the batteries can fail or degrade. Smith says his company has seen plenty of 60,000-mile cars showing very little range loss from new.

MikeJXE

There are reasons why a product drops in price fast 

Not enough customers want it so it’s not selling 

silverwhistle

LOL. Have you seen the depreciation on Jaguar XEs! Nobody wants them!

The situation with EVs is that they were in short supply a couple of years ago and I got paid £600 more for a two year old car than I'd paid for it new. Thank goodness prices are now, with more reasonable volumes in the SH market, getting to ICE levels of depreciation.

MikeJXE

silverwhistle said:

LOL. Have you seen the depreciation on Jaguar XEs! Nobody wants them!

The situation with EVs is that they were in short supply a couple of years ago and I got paid £600 more for a two year old car than I'd paid for it new. Thank goodness prices are now, with more reasonable volumes in the SH market, getting to ICE levels of depreciation.

LOL Have you seen this from another thread on here 

We recently bought a little BMW i3.

6 months old, 2000 miles, and we paid 19k. The previous owner paid 35k...

So horrendous depreciation, but if you're on the right side, no problem. 

Couldn't go back to ice, but appreciate it's not for everyone. Being a low milage user, the ability to charge at home, and having solar panels swing it for us....

silverwhistle

We can but be glad that people swap their cars after 6 months or that dealers have demo cars! My current EV will be my first ever car on which I may suffer a bit of appreciable depreciation as I bought it new and won't get the premium after 2 years like the previous, but as I keep my cars for a long time I'm not going to worry.

But my point was more that you said people don't want them, and I don't think that relates purely to EVs. If anything the greater availability is opening up the EV market to people like me who previously never bought anything under 4 years old.

The list price of all new cars seem absurd these days, and I wonder who actually pays them?

dave23

Thanks for all the replies you have given me a lot to think about. I probably would go with the 3 pin charging as Martyn1981 pointed out the £1000 saved on not having an installed charger would pay for a lot of miles. So far I have only test driven a Tesla model 3 and that was a new one. Absolutely loved it, especially the one pedal driving. Insurance cost for a Tesla is high but not a deal breaker.

michaels

dave23 said:

Thanks for all the replies you have given me a lot to think about. I probably would go with the 3 pin charging as Martyn1981 pointed out the £1000 saved on not having an installed charger would pay for a lot of miles. So far I have only test driven a Tesla model 3 and that was a new one. Absolutely loved it, especially the one pedal driving. Insurance cost for a Tesla is high but not a deal breaker.

One reason that EV are depreciating so much is the tax break for company car EVs - effectively 85% of buyers are getting a tax break worth several thousand off the price of the car so the effective average new price when you take that into account is well below the list price and then second hand prices are likely to go off the effective new price rather than the list price.  This obviously then makes a new purchase without the tax break poor value.

Netexporter

People moaned that EVs were too expensive. Now you can buy a new EV for under £20k. Obviously the price of used EVs will fall in line with the lower new vehicle prices.

It's not as if ICE vehicles are immune from depreciation, particularly "premium" marques.

Grumpy_chap

Interesting advert on the radio going to work this morning.  Dacia Spring EV has 1k mile range, massage seats and only £15k.
Should sell like hot cakes 😄 
Might swap my TM3

Reed_Richards

The Dacia Spring EV UK model has a 26.8 kWh battery so unlikely to achieve a "1 k mile range".  The TV adverts I have seen say that the average distance driven daily is 23 miles so you don't need a huge range.