Electric cars suffer 'unsustainable' depreciation in secondhand market
Electric cars suffer ‘unsustainable’ depreciation in secondhand market
There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.
You can get a Nissan leaf with 30k on it for under $8000, the battery cost $12k. The replacement batteries cost as much as the second hand value of the vehicle. Until that changes , battery powered vehicles will mostly be ewaste once the battery dies.
Exactly this. I read about a guy buying his daughter a used electric car for $12k only for it to need a $16k battery like 3 months later, and to make matters worse, they don’t sell the battery anymore. Then last week I watched a vid about how Hyundai wants to charge you $60k if you scratch the scratch plate under your car as they wont service the battery located there, just just write the whole thing off.
Until there is government mandated, removable, interchangeable batteries- I don’t see how this will get better. There needs to be a system in place for battery exchange, repair, recycling, and regulation. Imagine if you could only buy gas from the company that makes your car, and they could decide to stop selling the special gas for your model any time they wanted.
I don’t think batteries as we have them now are the answer at all, and need to be treated as the stopgap they were. There is better technology now that would be economically better, though power output and range would be considerably hampered. We need an alternate power storage solution.
Battery costs and electricity costs are the reason an EV isn't even on my radar. I'd rather invest that possible EV money in solar.
Really waiting for hydrogen. Right now it’s not viable, but it feels like it’s the only option that could actually save us. Would love to have a tank in my yard for my house and car, or possibly through pipes like natural gas. Many problems to solve there too unfortunately.
I did the math and an ev would be about 1/8 the price in electricity versus gasoline. I don't know what backwards place you live in, but that's not the norm. Then there's the lower cost of maintenance and repairs which further makes EVs cheaper.
Replacing the battery makes it essentially a new car from drivetrain perspective.
Also, Leafs typically last as long as gas powered cars. Gas cars have the same problem - the entire engine and transmission are expensive to replace and the car is usually scrapped. The problem you outline is not unique to electric cars.
This is just an unfortunate system where progress is so fast an old model is out of date.
A 50,000 car might cost 55,000 new in three years. But a 50,000 electric car is going to cost 45,000 new in 3 years. Of course than means it is going to lose value because of substitutes.
Also while the old cars had battery issues there is a lot of propaganda about electric cars from the fossil fuel industry and people that don't want progress.
These are normal numbers compared to ice vehicles. Vehicles lose 15% to 25% in their first year.
Oil baron propoganda
Yes, exactly my thoughts... it is usual ratefor used cars
All cars, including electric cars lose 25% value after they're sold. The concern is about longer term resale value. A 10 year old electric car is worthless. It would need a new $15,000 battery to continue operating. A 10 year old combustion car can still be worth more than half its original value.
It’s more about the maintenance cost of the used EV, the main one being a battery that costs as much as the car.
Yes, and replacing the battery essentially gives you a new drivetrain. It would cost near the same price to replace an ICE engine and transmission (using dealer pricing), hence propaganda.