by belter on 10/17/25, 10:56 AM with 960 comments
by nostrademons on 10/17/25, 4:15 PM
Instead of threatening to derail the EV transition, lack of resale value might be evidence of the EV transition, particularly when coupled with quickly growing overall sales of EVs globally.
by xp84 on 10/17/25, 5:15 PM
Alternative take: "EVs now easy to afford for the 80% of Americans who don't have $50-90k to spend on an EV!"
This year I bought a 2022 EV with 16k miles. A luxury brand. The sticker price when new was $79,000. I paid $35k. It was an off-lease vehicle so if anyone took a bath, it was the bank. I would never in a million years spend 80 grand on a car but now I have a great EV.
Battery life is not a huge concern. Any more than timing belts/chains, transmissions, etc. can be dauntingly costly repairs for cars with 150k miles or more.
I also have a gas car which I love (spouse drives the electric for a much greater commute) so I'm no EV absolutist. But this whole premise is stupid. EV adoption has had 2 main blockers: 1. only rich people had justification to buy them until recently, and 2. Charging space for people who don't have their own private garage.
Now #1 is no longer a factor. This is a GOOD thing.
by kemayo on 10/17/25, 4:21 PM
I want to suggest that there are recent reasons why Tesla, as a brand, has specifically gotten a bit less popular that are unrelated to the entire EV category. (It's Elon. He's the reason.)
That said, to the extent the result holds true for the entire category, I'd suspect it's because EVs are still fairly immature. It's like "resale value of desktop PCs falling rapidly" back in the 90s, when the field was advancing quickly enough that buying used was genuinely a bad idea.
by FabCH on 10/17/25, 12:01 PM
Resale value of EVs doesn't depend on mileage nowhere near as much as ICE cars. EVs are just much simpler machines and electric motors can do a million miles with no maintenance, and the only maintenance you have is the oil in the differential, which is often simpler because it is single-speed. Compare that to thousand different mechanical parts that all wear out in a ICE engine. Which is why ICE cars resale value is determined by the odometer.
What drives EV resale value is the health of the battery, which is influenced more by recharge cycles and straight up passage of time.
And the anecdotal evidence of a commercial fleet going bankrupt and not getting much for their EVs... Well yeah, would you buy from such a source? I wouldn't. They usually don't follow longevity advice for battery charging, because they have to optimize for time-in-use.
As an anecdote, I bought all my ICE cars second hand, and would usually sell them 3-4 years later just before major maintenance was needed. My EV is now 8 years old, runs like the day I got it and had 1 repair, when the motor that drives the window up and down broke and battery capacity is still the same, or if it changed it's such a small change I didn't notice. I don't expect to sell any time soon, if ever. I expect I will just do a battery swap in 5-10 years.
by bentt on 10/17/25, 4:44 PM
Say the govt wanted everyone to buy more Rubik's Cubes (cause they help you become smarter).
Their plan to do this is not to pay the Rubik's company to make them cheaper, but instead to give everyone $5 spendable on Rubik's Cubes only. The cost of a cube prior to this was $8.
The day that decide that, the Rubik's company ups the price of a Cube to account for this incoming onslaught of buyers and get more profit. They can safely up the price without losing sales because A) everyone wants to get smart and B) The overall cost of a cube is still cheaper than before. You can get a $10 cube for $5, which is less than $8.
More cubes are sold than ever before.
Now the market is flooded with cubes.
Now the govt says "Great! Everyone has cubes. Let the intelligence revolution commence!" So they remove the subsidy.
$10 Cubes are now QUITE expensive, so the Rubik's company reduces the price back to the $8 it was before. But wait a second, now the market is flooded and people are used to paying effectively $5 for a cube.
This is what's happened with EVs.
by samsullivan on 10/17/25, 4:20 PM
Looking at actual market data, the spread on used EVs is wild - a 2022 Tesla Model S ranges from $57 to $112k depending on trim/condition (https://cardog.app/tools/valuation/tesla/model_s/2022). That's a $60k spread on the same year vehicle. Compare that to ICE vehicles where the range is typically much tighter.
When buyers can't confidently price an asset, they discount heavily. The depreciation problem might actually be a data problem - we just don't have the standardized battery health reporting and historical comps that exist for ICE vehicles yet.
by throwway120385 on 10/17/25, 4:15 PM
by rootusrootus on 10/17/25, 4:20 PM
The EV market is just weird, anyway. Manufacturers have to price to what the market will bear, which may have little resemblance to MSRP. So a good evaluation of deprecation has to figure out how to account for that. My Lightning had an MSRP of 72K but I got it for 51K, which was a very normal price that anyone could get. If I evaluate resale based on the MSRP, it looks pretty bad. If I use my out-the-door cost for comparison, it does not look bad at all (compared to any other new car purchase, of course, which are never going to be the most cost-effective choice for an individual).
by cameronh90 on 10/17/25, 4:20 PM
Why would I pay a significant fraction of the original price for a 2020 EV if a same tier 2025 EV has better batteries and drivetrain that'll probably have a longer lifetime, almost double the range, heat pump and faster charging? That doesn't mean the 2020 is bad, but it's only worth it if you can get it at an enormous discount over the current model.
Meanwhile, a 2020 ICE is pretty much the same as a 2025 ICE aside from the wear and tear.
Once the tech stabilises, so will the resale market.
by wood_spirit on 10/17/25, 12:14 PM
The post says that Tesla hold their value better than Chinese newcomers but that absolutely isn’t the prices I’m seeing in Europe.
In Europe Tesla resale value has plummeted due to brand destruction. Tesla was super popular when they launched as the first realistic EV to hit the main time. But they quickly got a poor reputation for build quality and never delivering on self-driving, and that was before the political damage the owner did which seems never recoverable in at least a generation.
Meanwhile comparable Chinese entrants are so new they aren’t yet at the 3 year mark where fleets sell off to second hand market.
Another interesting thing about non-Tesla EVs is that there aren’t a lot being resold; if you got one, you likely hang onto it. Personally I’ve just not yet let go of my Kia EV6 even though it sailed past the normal trade in point recently.
by nicoburns on 10/17/25, 12:09 PM
The first few generations of smartphones didn't last very long either (1-2 years). But now they last much longer (5-7 years). EV lifespans will expand in the same way as they mature as a product.
by bryanlarsen on 10/17/25, 1:08 PM
If you can get another 150,000 miles out of it with almost no maintenance or repair costs, it's a screaming good deal.
The latter is far more likely than the former, but people don't realize it yet.
https://www.p3-group.com/en/p3-updates/battery-aging-in-prac...
P. S. I will likely be buying a used EV soon.
by MontyCarloHall on 10/17/25, 5:10 PM
— In the US, charging infrastructure is still quite poor, with a high amount of disabled or damaged chargers that aren't apparent on maps. Nothing worse than planning a route around the only charger within a few dozen miles and arriving to find it broken. The overall overhead of having to plan driving/parking around chargers is also too onerous for some people.
— Similarly, people underestimate how much harder long road trips are on EVs, especially when fast chargers are damaged and don't actually supply anywhere close to the advertised amount of current.
— People underestimate how much range degrades in cold weather. One person I know bought their EV in the spring, loved it until winter came around, and then promptly sold it the next spring. In a similar vein, people don't realize how poor and battery-hungry climate control can be in an EV, especially in models without a heat pump.
It would be interesting to rigorously study this, examining whether people buying EVs are more likely to sell them within the first couple years of ownership versus people buying comparably priced ICE cars.
by PeterStuer on 10/17/25, 12:01 PM
Traditional gas cars also have wear and tear with parts on the "consumables" spectrum, but these are considered more open to state inspection by a semi knowledgeable amateur, and the car's value is less tied to one specific black-box item.
by kube-system on 10/17/25, 5:23 PM
You have to remember that the market for new cars skews heavily toward wealthier households. These households are generally the ones that can afford a place to charge a car at home.
The market for a used EV is much smaller than for a used gas powered vehicle. People buying used vehicles are much more likely to have housing situations where they can't charge a vehicle.
This factor doesn't apply to gasoline vehicles because everyone, rich or poor, fills up at a gas station.
by gladiatr72 on 10/17/25, 11:35 AM
Thanks, but I'm hanging in to my old Subaru.
by anovikov on 10/17/25, 12:04 PM
At least that's what happened in 2022-2023 when prices of EVs and ICE cars quickly converged. No surprise existing EVs on the road deprecated rapidly.
by techthatananya on 10/22/25, 8:10 AM
It is very heartening to see everyone engaging on topics like IP, production capabilities, trade dynamics, charging anxiety, safety and more. I love that the discussion isn't one-dimensional, and that rapid tech advancements in EVs are being seen as a sign of progress and volatility both. In the same vein, ICE vehicles being stagnant is not simply being written off as them being outdated but instead being considered good enough. One commentator is on the ball in suggesting that the depreciation problem might actually be a data problem. I've often found in my reporting that assessing EVs in general pose data challenges given how new the tech and market is.
As many of you pointed out, there are several factors that influence the price of used EVs and given how nascent the market is, it may be too soon to tell if the initial prices were inflated, or if the used pricing will settle in the near future, and so on. Battery anxiety, though, seems to be a big point of contention. EV users in the comments seem to be quite happy and confident about their battery, but several people still point to battery life uncertainty and the information asymmetry around it as deterrents.
Experts suggest that battery-as-a-service models are a potential lifeline, but someone here said standardisation for individual buyers is far off because "battery tech, from the chemistry to the packs, shows no sign of slowing down in the immediate future." Another person said they're looking forward to solid-state batteries.
I'd love to know more from you about how battery tech is evolving/should evolve where you are and whether battery swapping or leasing or any other financial models would make EV adoption (used or new) more enticing? If you have any specific examples, please do share
by pm90 on 10/17/25, 11:55 AM
As the battery tech and service infrastructure matures we probably will see less of this though.
by alistairSH on 10/17/25, 8:57 PM
They compare the Model Y to an F150, but don't indicate if the 0-day prices are MSRP or actual sales (because F150s are usually discounted from list price and EVs have various subsidies). While each is best-selling by some measure, they're also different products - a truck VS a near-luxury wagon/crossover. I wouldn't expect them to depreciate at the same rate - they should have included a near-luxury gas-powered wagon/crossover as well (Lexus NX, maybe).
Their argument relies heavily on data from India, where a bankrupt ride-share service flooded the market. If Enterprise went out of business and flooded the US market with Toyota Camrys, I'd expect some pricing irregularity for that model.
Similarly, the US EV market (and probably some others?) is heavily impacted by federal and local rebates and tax benefits. Those surely skew the used car values as well - nobody actually paid $50,000 for a new Tesla (or whatever), they paid $50,000 - some subsidy (and that amount varied based on model, price, and the income of the initial buyer - my neighbor could by the exact same car as me for $7500 less than I could). Some of these subsidies also incentivized leasing vs buying, which then means more of those cars go on the market in 2-3 years (vs a typical ~8 year ownership for a new car).
Long story short, EVs are a nascent market, there's bound to be pricing issues. I'm not convinced we can extrapolate long-term used market values based on the last ~5 years of data.
by Kristopher1337 on 10/17/25, 11:34 PM
Since owning my car I’ve had to service it only twice. My battery depreciation has been at least to me completely unnoticeable. I basically only charged on superchargers till late 2023 till I got a charger in my garage. I’m sure my battery has lost some small amount of range but honestly I would have to do the calculations to know what it is. It can’t be much.
I will say only this year have I even considered for even just a moment of getting something new. I’m pretty interested in the Lexus steer by wire technology that will come as an upgraded feature on the new RZ. I know that car is not on anyone’s radar and I can understand someone being very hesitant of steer by wire technology. I genuinely believe it’s an interesting feature though and could be a noticeable enhancement to every day driving. It actually makes a yoke style wheel make sense.
by Zambyte on 10/17/25, 4:06 PM
by catketch on 10/18/25, 2:25 PM
At least in the 4-5 years ago, there was not much of a used market, not much vehicle choice beyond Tesla that was good price/performance, and tough going on charging infrastructure (again outside of Tesla)
That landscape has not completely changed, but it is much different. There's a lot of actual vehicle choice (even if most are still some type of SUV/CUV), and charging situation is reasonable, especially with opening up of NACS
There's a big component of political action against EVs, solar, etc but I think it will just slow, not stop the momentum in the US. With 2 BEVs and a PHEV, I don't see our family going back to ICE vehicles. I miss manual transmissions, that's about it
by NoPicklez on 10/21/25, 10:38 PM
With a ICE you look at the odometer when purchasing, outside of that you don't actually know whether that reading and the state of the engine gives you less range, less power or an indicator of parts failing.
With an EV, similar to other electronic devices, you get an actual number that tells you the life of the battery which allows you to infer anything you like in terms of what that would mean for the life of the vehicle.
It will take time for people to know the true life of an EV in the second hand market. The general public are skeptical of EV's, so it makes sense they would be all the more skeptical of them second hand.
by hbarka on 10/17/25, 5:10 PM
by robomartin on 10/17/25, 4:42 PM
We were well on a path to purchase a couple of EV's (Teslas, new) and even installed a large solar array to support them.
A couple of years later she learned about the cost of replacing the battery. And, just like that, the dream was over. No interest whatsoever.
Anyone who is married fully understands you cannot argue with wife logic. She has no interest in having to spend $20K to $30K ever on any vehicle, of any type, electric or not, a few years after you paid off the loan.
She would not even touch a used EV if it was almost free. In that case you are almost guaranteed to have to spend tens of thousands of dollars for a new battery at a random moment in time in the future. No deal.
Her logic is cemented in a reality of life that we have lived: There are good times and bad times. And, as things go sometimes, you often find yourself in bad times with no money. Vehicles being necessary for mobility and work, if you have an EV, hit bad times and need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to swap the battery, you are absolutely screwed.
So, I asked her: What would make you change your mind?
The answer: A battery swap should be $5,000 or less.
by wcunning on 10/17/25, 7:20 PM
Not that many people can afford a new car now at all, and of those who can, they're getting luxury end cars, generally. Luxury vehicles depreciate faster than non-luxury vehicles, generally. People who want used cars are frequently people who can't afford new cars, thus they want something that works in their area in their situation with their stuff as it stands. Many of these people live in places with poor charging networks or rent and cannot install a charger. Used EVs don't come with a free charger like new ones often do. EVs were also being priced and purchased based on the tax credit for quite a while, which meant that price was a little... soft? On top of that, many EVs that fit into this data are selling for less for real reasons, like the uninsurability of Cybertrucks and the range loss on the Bolt EV. This all drives demand down or shifts the curves and lowers prices. It's just a small market for now.
by aurizon on 10/17/25, 10:59 PM
by spacedcowboy on 10/18/25, 12:56 PM
My current car is a Kia EV6 AWD GT-Line S, pretty much the top-of-the-range car. It has 340 miles range (plenty when the longest trip I'll do is 220 once or twice per year) and although a lot bulkier than the old car, has enough oomph off the line that I don't care. I do miss the top-down experience, but here in the UK that's less of an issue due to weather, and at least there's a large sun-roof :)
Tesla would have been an option a few years ago. Glad I dodged that bullet.
I fully expect to get another 15 years or so out of the car, at which point I'll be in my dotage and be having other people drive me around, possibly in a golf-cart.. So depreciation really isn't a big deal for me.
by aftbit on 10/18/25, 2:34 AM
That's before you even consider battery degradation. So much of the value of these cars is in the battery, to the point I almost wonder if they are making money, even selling them at these prices. I had to have my IONIQ 5 battery replaced under warranty within a month of buying the car, and the price that Hyundai charged themselves for the battery was more than the cost of the car brand new off the lot, even before incentives. Yes, that's the right hand charging the left, and they'll refurbish my failed pack (a single weak cell) and recoup most of the cost... but it was still a shock to see that.
by 1970-01-01 on 10/17/25, 5:38 PM
by caycep on 10/17/25, 4:57 PM
by jasonthorsness on 10/17/25, 2:51 PM
by bigums on 10/17/25, 11:14 PM
by jeffnappi on 10/17/25, 11:04 PM
In 2023 the car market was wildly overpriced due to the low interest rates and covid money combined with supply chain problems.
> For Tesla owners in the U.S., their 2023 Model Ys are worth 42% less than what they paid two years ago
by exasperaited on 10/17/25, 10:12 PM
Film bodies found their post-digital price floor quite quickly. DSLRs and mirrorless have only found secondhand price stability in the last three or four years and while a big part of it is the quality plateau at the end of the megapixel race (which might have some sort of analogue in the electric car industry, though I don’t know what it is —- range, perhaps), part of that was driven by pandemic component scarcity and inflation holding up the new camera market prices.
In short I think this depreciation will last for another decade until manufacturers feel confident they will sell enough volume to make cheaper cars.
by dpierce9 on 10/17/25, 6:18 PM
by diego_moita on 10/17/25, 12:04 PM
I live in Canada where the distances are long and the weather is freaking cold. These are 2 circumstances very adverse to EVs.
But, still, I love my Kia Niro EV. It is the best car I've ever had. The driving experience is so good that it made me enjoy driving; I always hated driving before this car.
EVs run much smoother, are more stable and more powerful. Besides, if you charge them at home, they're far cheaper; even if you don't have solar panels (I do have them, too).
by CivBase on 10/17/25, 5:21 PM
I also suspect there simply aren't many used EVs I'd want right now. I generally "techie" cars with tons of software features, big ol' touch screens, and half-baked self-driving features. I'm still not even comfortable with keyless start on my current vehicle and I hate the adaptive cruise, which I am unable to turn off. For better or worse, EVs seem to always be at the bleeding edge of these kinds of technologies.
by SubiculumCode on 10/17/25, 6:18 PM
by _heimdall on 10/17/25, 10:50 PM
Its also turned into a mountain of problems recently. It was great until about a year ago, then the battery started acting up. With 10 miles of charge left it will drop to 0, go into limp mode, and require dealership software to disable the thrown code and restart the car. Now it has a phantom battery drain going on, killing the 12v battery after being parked for a few days.
I really liked the car until these issues cropped up. Now I wish I hadn't saved the ~$2,800 in gas while the car depreciated by 4x that amount.
by Retric on 10/17/25, 11:59 AM
The flip side of this is a general over correction as the new car tax break ends used EVs are really compelling today. A slightly used Long Range Model 3 is a far better option than their new Base Model 3.
Eventually ICE cars were designed for their resale value so people buying a new car every 3 or 5 years could afford to spend more money. That’s coming for EVs as the technology improves battery degradation means the range sweet spot will be chosen to keep the used market happy not just new buyers etc.
by rightbyte on 10/17/25, 12:01 PM
The electricity and ICE fuel costs should be included if the battery is included. The battery is some sort of upfront fuel cost in a way the gas tank isn't.
Since mileage wear is proportional to fuel use anyway.
by gwbas1c on 10/17/25, 9:15 PM
On long trips, I plug in at bathroom breaks about once every 2-3 hours. I don't wait for a full charge because (surprise surprise), I'm going to need to pee before I deplete the battery.
Now that I've adjusted, I actually prefer it to gas, because I can just plug in and walk away instead of needing to babysit the car at the pump.
by mock-possum on 10/18/25, 5:30 PM
If you’re picking a car betting on being able to recoup some of the price later on resale value then you’re doing it wrong.
by linsomniac on 10/17/25, 4:15 PM
by Traster on 10/17/25, 4:50 PM
by declan_roberts on 10/17/25, 5:36 PM
I bought a used 2023 Model Y for about $36k (only 15k miles) it even came with upgrades like acceleration boost and an extra (unusable) back seat. This particular model was about $52k new in 2023.
I can't believe how much car I bought for my money. Autosteer is fantastic (FSD needs work). Early morning drive to the airport and the car was driving itself while I ate my breakfast and drank my coffee.
by Robdel12 on 10/17/25, 8:58 PM
Look at Nissan leafs. They “traditionally” depreciate.
by m463 on 10/17/25, 8:11 PM
Used cars are usually sold to someone who can't afford a new car. It can also be cheaper to drive an EV than a gas car.
So I think the opposite - Used EVs will create an opportunity for normal people to switch away from gas cars.
As to low resale value - I think tesla was VERY aware of this problem and artificially propped up their used market when they were starting out by offering a buyback program.
by stetrain on 10/17/25, 5:32 PM
This article doesn't seem to mention those credits, but they are likely a large factor in the difference between the nominal sale price of a new EV and the used market price.
If you don't factor in those credits, it looks like someone paid $42k for an EV that a couple of years later was only worth $30k. When in reality they paid $35k for that new EV as a net purchase cost.
by 127 on 10/17/25, 11:45 AM
by whatever1 on 10/17/25, 5:16 PM
For the second one insurance companies could help alleviate the uncertainty, but I don’t see major vendors offering packages.
People don’t have 20k in a single shot to fix a battery failure. (Maybe cumulatively for a gas car one has to pay more, but it will be in small installments)
by loueed on 10/17/25, 12:04 PM
I like the direction of https://slate.auto. Module, bring-your-own-computer. We'll see if they allow affordable trade-in's for upgrading battery/motors.
They could also work with CommaAI for autonomy.
by m101 on 10/17/25, 8:49 PM
In which case: no it's not that they're amazing - it's that they are less desirable than ICE vehicles.
(I used to own a Tesla now I'm back on a hybrid, and delighted about it)
by MilnerRoute on 10/18/25, 5:53 AM
https://www.kbb.com/car-depreciation/
When you factor that in, the difference between EVs and internal combustion engines looks like it's just a few thousand dollars...
by thelastgallon on 10/18/25, 2:20 AM
People bought Model Ys during Covid close to 70k, of course it will show up as massive depreciation if manufacturer is selling the same shit for nearly half the price.
Also, all new cars have too much electronics and sensors, they all depreciate faster.
by mytailorisrich on 10/17/25, 12:08 PM
In such case I suspect the impact is mostly on leasing companies with issues on viability and leasing costs (for consumers).
In UK/Europe this might also explain why depreciation after 3 years is so high: Leasing companies trying to dump EVs returned at end of leases.
by AfterHIA on 10/17/25, 5:00 PM
Yes we're doomed is what I mean.
by sjducb on 10/18/25, 7:10 PM
Most EVs are luxury vehicles. Luxury vehicles depreciate much faster than regular cars. Luxury car buyers care if the car is new or not.
Tesla should be compared to BMW not Ford. Teslas depreciate at similar rates to BMWs.
EVs like the leaf are depreciating fast because their technology is becoming obsolete.
I think it is too early to be sure that EVs depreciate quickly.
by christkv on 10/17/25, 11:55 AM
by yieldcrv on 10/17/25, 8:09 PM
This issue is for fleet operators overextending themselves buying too many cars, and probably collateralizing debt off of them
Additionally, resale market demand and price discovery is one thing, but it really sounds more like the primary market is overvalued
And this aspect just made me lol
> 3-year-old EVs lost more than half of their value compared with 39% for gas cars.
so around 50% as opposed to around 40%. wow. stop the presses.
by senectus1 on 10/17/25, 3:30 PM
I dont think all EV's are dropping equally.
by shellkr on 10/17/25, 10:42 PM
by AlexandrB on 10/17/25, 4:38 PM
by RickJWagner on 10/17/25, 12:14 PM
It’s just that the cars are aging like iPhones. Last years hardware package, hardware compatibility with latest software, etc are all people seem to talk about on Reddit. I think that’s a factor in the steep depreciation.
I just bought a new Corolla hybrid, it gets 60 miles per gallon and should last a good while. Maybe next purchase.
by Aunche on 10/17/25, 4:50 PM
by a3w on 10/17/25, 11:56 AM
In Germany, you can buy used luxury cars at high discount due to being fuel inefficient for years now, and that is with barely a price increase for gas and barely 1 l/100km to through 3 l/100km cars taking up more market share.
by torginus on 10/17/25, 7:48 PM
The first hit of 'depreciation' is when this contradiction appears in the used price, after that they depreciate like normal.
by wiradikusuma on 10/17/25, 5:41 PM
Let's say (Chinese) EVs never appear in the world. Why do car prices keep increasing while only marginally better?
by linuxftw on 10/17/25, 12:28 PM
These EVs should be much cheaper. Either batteries are so outlandishly expensive that this will never be economically viable for the vast majority of the world outside of cities, or companies are playing accounting games.
In any case, when purchasing a used EV, you're essentially risking the entire purchase price if you get a battery lemon. Buying a Bolt or what have you for $15-$20k, and having to replace the battery at 60%+ of your purchase price, that's too much risk. Whereas if you bought a used ICE vehichle for $15-20k, and your engine fails, you might might need to spend $1500-5k for a repair, it's not all or nothing. And with a moderate amount of research, you can determine which makes or models are prone to early large repairs.
If EV manufacturers would sell a no-questions-asked insurance policy that guarantees the life of the battery to 250k miles, there would be no issue.
by woodpanel on 10/18/25, 11:41 AM
The question is rather whether this depreciation curve is going to normalize into that of Combustion Engine powered cars or if the „EV transition“ just means „transitioning cars into the E-waste category of smartphones and TVs“
by holysantamaria on 10/18/25, 10:05 AM
by awaymazdacx5 on 10/18/25, 5:13 AM
by instagib on 10/17/25, 12:14 PM
There aren’t many EV’s on the lots either as the configuration team doesn’t see a need to order them from manufacturers if people aren’t buying them.
by asdefghyk on 10/18/25, 2:27 AM
by standardUser on 10/17/25, 10:05 PM
by tonyhart7 on 10/18/25, 8:55 AM
what is unique to electronic???? improving fast (more than peers), but sometimes in the future where innovation is "maxed out" like phone, we could see an "cheaper" EV depreciate not as fast
by teo_zero on 10/18/25, 5:39 AM
by huntertwo on 10/18/25, 1:23 AM
Supply glut/low demand causes prices to go down.
by hypeatei on 10/17/25, 11:59 AM
by mring33621 on 10/17/25, 6:36 PM
Also, have you seen the out-of-warranty maintenance/repair costs for many EVs?
I assert that these 2 things contribute heavily to the rapid depreciation of EVs.
by didip on 10/17/25, 5:46 PM
There are plenty of deals to be had from a used EV market.
by eagerpace on 10/17/25, 8:00 PM
by ibejoeb on 10/17/25, 4:46 PM
by softwaredoug on 10/17/25, 7:20 PM
ICEs are a stable technology. There’s little learning curve. Next years EV could be a step change up from last years at the same cost.
How is this a bad thing?
by elnerd on 10/17/25, 6:22 PM
by stronglikedan on 10/17/25, 7:24 PM
Most people just don't want another after their first one. So there is not much demand. Dealerships are practically giving them away right now, which is how they snagged me.
Luckily, I can get out of this lease in a couple of years. Unluckily, I will have to spend more on a very quick ICE car now that I've experienced EV acceleration. Luckily, it'll still probably be cheaper than an EV.
by giantg2 on 10/17/25, 7:35 PM
by mattmaroon on 10/17/25, 8:15 PM
So the problem is already in the process of solving itself? Seems like standard first mover technology stuff.
This article seems not worth the pixels it’s printed on.
by gortok on 10/17/25, 8:18 PM
As someone who bought a 2023 Model Y 7 seat Long Range, I can tell you my desire to sell the car was 100% because of the negative brand value caused by Musk.
I’m not able to sell it because I’m currently $17,000 underwater on it and can’t afford to dump it, but I would if I had $17,000 to lose. I have a friend who did just that.
I love my Tesla (for the most part, it has some basic annoyances that remind me that building and testing a car for California is not the same as building it for everywhere), but as someone who tracked the depreciation of my own Tesla, it started plummeting when Musk decided to buy Twitter and spend his time exonerating the alt-right, and culminated with his foray into public policy.
by RatchetWerks on 10/17/25, 7:48 PM
by trashb on 10/17/25, 12:49 PM
First of all I believe that the car manufactures (especially for electric cars) these days use planned obsolescence tactics to limit a car's lifespan at one side, while also promising the buyers that the car could last for far longer compared to their old ICE cars. However this promise often doesn't seem to hold up in the real world which will decrease confidence once the cars start breaking earlier. This is especially problematic when you are running an business calculating in the promised lifespan instead of the actual lifespan, once a business finds out (and does the math) often it will make economical sense to dump the fleet.
On top of that I think a big problem with certain cars on the second hand market is big onetime investments. You can see that already in certain internal combustion engine cars that are know to require a costly fix after x amount of miles. This is quite important in the second hand market since you often have to expect to do the "big maintenance" once you purchase a second hand vehicle as people like to sell slightly before this maintenance is due (and often not tell you).
Where EV's may run for a long time without problems they require costly repairs once they do break. Most EV's are build in a mostly non repairable way, like many modern vehicles, and you have to pray that the parts will be available after 10 years. Also a lot of maintenance on EV's can not easily be done by an enthusiast in a shed as it requires special equipment, certification and skills. Where with an ICE engine you may run into smaller maintenance earlier you are paying these fixes incrementally, and may be able to do a lot of the maintenance yourself.
On top of that I think there is a certain saturation in the electric car market where people that care about buying an EV increasingly have a EV and the people that don't care (or prefer ICE) don't want to invest the additional premium, or uncertainty to buy an EV. For example I don't buy an EV because it's very impractical to charge it where I live and I like the added flexibility (miles) that an economy ICE car can provide.
by fridder on 10/17/25, 4:28 PM
by kjeldsendk on 10/17/25, 8:24 PM
Within very few years they will be like modern phones that you only update because they're worn down.
by kogasa240p on 10/17/25, 6:24 PM
by gnarlouse on 10/17/25, 4:50 PM
by dzhiurgis on 10/17/25, 7:55 PM
Tesla dropped their prices a lot after covid boom, that completely distorted the market.
by bradley13 on 10/18/25, 5:15 AM
by asdefghyk on 10/18/25, 2:29 AM
by Ken_At_EM on 10/17/25, 9:16 PM
by jgalt212 on 10/18/25, 11:48 AM
by TheChaplain on 10/17/25, 3:24 PM
But where we live there is a huuge fanbase of veteran cars like Chevrolet, people are nuts about them and arrange day long cruising around the city a few times a year.
Considering the complexity and rapid technology changes of electric cars, I doubt we'll see many working VW ID.5 in 70 years cruising the streets.
by j45 on 10/17/25, 7:11 PM
And/or maybe it should have been the time of the PHEV first.
by alexnewman on 10/18/25, 1:51 AM
by est on 10/18/25, 4:55 AM
Yes EVs are "depreciating faster"
But then EVs hold 40% of the market, ICE cars were obselete.
You can by brand new B-segment sedans in China for 10k.
by bell-cot on 10/17/25, 11:19 AM
by jwr on 10/17/25, 7:32 PM
To spread good FUD, there has to be truth in it, so that debunking it gets very difficult. Over the years I've seen so much FUD it's not even funny (see for example https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/factcheck/electric-vehic...).
This news story shows that the FUD has worked well (especially in the US), hats off to the fossil fuel industry. It's also a double-whammy: this story will spread, so people will be even more suspicious of EVs, which will cause their popularity to fall, which will cause their resale prices to fall…
It's quite sad, but also impressive.
by esskay on 10/18/25, 4:28 PM
We're still way too early in the shift to EV's to have a reliable metric of long term resale values, but theres basically nothing to suggest they would be lower than ICE vehicles once people stop believing the utter nonsense being pushed about EV's longevity by a select few.
by ben7799 on 10/17/25, 6:00 PM
They never pay off their cars and trade them in on another one and just keep making payments without really ever owning a car outright. And increasingly as prices have gone up they are trading cars in that they are underwater on, rolling old debt into the next loan!
If you're in this category of insane financial ignorance trying to appear rich but actually being "car poor" of course this resale is a huge problem. But for anyone who buys a car outright or pays off their loan and then drives the car for many years it's not a problem at all whether you bought new or took advantage of the massive depreciation and bought a lightly used one for a great price.
by EasyMark on 10/17/25, 10:23 PM
by grigio on 10/17/25, 6:40 PM
by k__ on 10/17/25, 7:01 PM
by physicsguy on 10/17/25, 6:07 PM
As a result of the above, EVs that are ~three years old are flooding the used car market and you can pick up a Tesla for < £20k
by YeahThisIsMe on 10/17/25, 11:38 AM
They're objects that lose value when you use them. That's normal.
by sublimefire on 10/17/25, 9:37 PM
> A U.K.-based study found 3-year-old EVs lost more than half of their value compared with 39% for gas cars.
40-50% depreciation is crazy, there is little reason why this should happen as cars do not change that much in such a short time. I bet they would not depreciate that hard if a new car was sold at 30k.
by alessandru on 10/18/25, 6:52 PM
if more of the electorate knew they could use these ev batteries in second life applications to power their homes businesses or otherwise be recycled into functional power providing devices, perhaps the percieved value wouldn't be so low. but right now everyone is convinced that the batteries are expiring at a fast rate when in reality they maintain usability into the 100s of k-miles.
but again, this article is about india, which is about 10 years behind the west in electrifying anything. so ... why are we asking the new kids on the block about depreciation?
why don't you ask the norwegians (95% ev this year) about depreciation? their market is much more mature with many more advanced consumers that can appraise the depreciated batteries much better. but you don't ask them because you want to muck-rake EV.
don't go to the premier ev market for this information go to the most under-developed one.
why don't you go ask south africans what they think about depreciating batteries?
ugh. 400 points for this drivel. you people are literally inane.
by mbgerring on 10/17/25, 8:17 PM
Moreover, EV batteries are recyclable. The main thing holding back lithium recycling has been the supply chain of used batteries, because the batteries are quite durable.
If the resale value of EVs is falling, that makes it easier to extract the batteries and use the raw material to build better batteries.
by AtlasBarfed on 10/17/25, 8:47 PM
Buyers of new Teslas are basically the TSLA cult.
Used buyers... aren't.
Hm, what might have happened that might have destroyed the overall brand with sensible, probably-liberal buyers of used EVs? I vaguely recall some salute thing. Don't really remember the specifics. I just remember there was a bit of a hubbub.
by nextworddev on 10/17/25, 5:37 PM
by daanlo on 10/18/25, 10:02 AM
by ruined on 10/17/25, 4:40 PM
by more_corn on 10/17/25, 5:22 PM
by p1dda on 10/17/25, 5:08 PM
by silexia on 10/17/25, 12:01 PM
by epistasis on 10/17/25, 4:09 PM
Looking across fhe used car sites and KBB, I'm probably going to buy new instead.
There's a concerted PR effort to slander EVs out there, take all articles with a huge grain of salt.