Buying an EV outright?

Cornucopia

It's all about the numbers… I'm on my second EV, which was purchased second-hand. But my first EV was leased.

The numbers for that deal are quite stark:

Purchase Price: £32,000
Value after 4 years: £8,000
Depreciation (notional): £24,000
What I actually paid on my Lease: £13,750

Saving on Lease vs. Purchase: £10,250 (before accounting for financing costs for outright purchase).

So, leases & PCPs can provide a level of protection against depreciation which for new cars can be quite high.

QrizB

I take it that the only thing she was concerned about was the colour?

🤣 We've been together for 30 years and she has always bought her own cars.

It is an impressive shade of electric blue, though.

Rather like this one:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604281934191

ididgetwhereiamtoday

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81992192#Comment_81992192

On those maths. You’d be better buying the car at 4 years old for 8k. You would still be saving thousands even with some maintenance work you may need on an older car.
EVs from the last 5 or 6 years are that good there’s no need for the latest and greatest. It’s like top end smartphones, may as well buy a top of the range 2 or 3 year old iPhone as it will plenty good enough for 99% of people.
A four year old EV at 8k will easily last you another 6 years and still be worth £3k so it will have costed you maximum £2k a year factoring in maintenance.
Amd you don’t have to worry about scratches and dings that will cost you when you have to hand the car back as it’s yours to keep for as long as you like.
Probably less than £2k a year but I’m thinking worse case scenario.

Cornucopia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81992213#Comment_81992213

Yes, and with my current car I did exactly that - again it's all about the numbers.

In my defence the first EV was purchased in 2022, and the options for 3-4 year old cars were not nearly as good then as they are now.

The leasing company wrote off £300 worth of wear and tear on the old car, on account of its age.

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81992192#Comment_81992192

What car is that?

As mine 2021 is worth more than that

Ectophile

If you buy a car that does what you need it to, then it makes no difference that it's obsolete after a few years.

My Renault was a 1 year old ex-demonstrator. It has enough range to do a journey I do regularly, and will still do so even as the battery ages a bit.

As a bonus, the "driver aids" are advisory only on this older model. It may ping at me or rumble the steering wheel. But it won't slam on the brakes or grab the steering from me. It also has real buttons and knobs for the HVAC and most of the audio functions.

Cornucopia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81992493#Comment_81992493

Mk 2 Nissan Leaf 40 kWh.

Bandy2023

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81992634#Comment_81992634

This needs more context.

For starters, no-one paid £32K for a Leaf four years ago - not a chance ( I've had 2 leafs )

So what you're doing here is the classic RRP v value now = depreciation.

Very misleading, as depreciation should be based on what the person actually paid, not the irrelevant RRP.

And you also have an unattractive EV, in terms of tech.

Small battery, only passive cooling of the battery, Chademo instead of CCS.

Cornucopia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82007256#Comment_82007256

As I said, it was leased. I assume the leasing company didn't pay RRP for it, and good luck to them.

I doubt I would have been able to get one new with a £10k discount, so I am ahead. If you want me to boil it down to anecdotal advice it would be this: if you are buying a new EV, consider leasing and check the figures.

The Mk2 Leaf is very capable, and it's a shame they stopped making it long before the Mk3 was ready. Neither the battery capacity, the cooling or the Chademo connector are an issue for the way I use the car.

Bandy2023

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82007441#Comment_82007441

I am Leaf fan, I had a Leaf 40 not so long ago and fitted 19 inch Qashqai wheels to it.

I actually still have a spare centre console for mine in the garage that I had carbon fibre dipped.

I get what you're saying about passive cooling and Chademo not being important to people who only do local driving and home charging, but it was the absolutely archaic interior that did it for me in the end.

An analogue speedo, a small middle screen with poor graphics.

Until relatively recently I was seeing brand new Leaf 40s going for £16k.