"The average cost of second-hand electric cars is plummeting by a 'phenomenal amount'"
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| Pic from Mail |
"The average cost of second-hand electric cars [in the UK] is plummeting by a 'phenomenal amount' as they sit for 'months on end' without any buyers.
"'Research by online motor marketplace 'AutoTrader' revealed the average price for a used EV has dropped by 21.4 per cent this month, compared to a year ago.' ...
"The second-hand electrical vehicle (EV) is between a rock and a hard place!
"Increasing numbers are now coming onto the market, corresponding to the increasing number of new sales in recent years.
"Yet at the same time, there seems to be little appetite from buyers. Most new EVs go either to Business/Fleet purchasers, or rich virtue-signallers. Neither sector is interested in buying second hand EVs."
~ Paul Homewood, from his post 'Values Of Used EVs Plummet, As Dealers Stuck With Unsold Cars'
7 comments:
“Elon Musk's popular Tesla brand has been one of the worst affected, as well as other high-end models from BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
These companies saw their average cost fall up to 24.1 per cent each year.“
So around 20% per year for petrol and a little more where the battery is losing value more rapidly. What exactly is the issue here other than sun click bait.
The issue?
Perhaps that central planners are pushing these cars on folk who (aside from the planners and the politicians and the more PC fleet buyers) are less than enamoured with them, so they are quickly devaluing.
Perhaps also because government should not be playing favourites with industries:
“Politicians and bureaucrats are ill-suited to pick winners in the market,” [Scott] Lincicome [from Cato argues]. “We are headfirst into electric vehicles today and we’re running the risk of pushing a technology that isn’t quite ready for prime time and in the process sidelining a technology that maybe turns out to be a better approach.”
We’re forcing a conversion to entirely electric cars in the US without electrical infrastructure that is even remotely capable of powering it. Such are the follies of central planners. We’ll pay with brownouts for years, unclean forms of electrical generation to turn the “clean” cars, and austere conservation. The central planners tend to think they know it all, know what is best for us, and have the dictatorial powers to press their wishes through.
We bought a new model Y Tesla less than a year ago and we’re hardly planners nor politicians nor PC fleet buyers. It’s a great fun car - not one I’d do a big road trip in (my diesel 4WD fulfils that time), but great for around town and trips less than 400km. Just like vaccines I suppose, the woke may be in favour of them, but that doesn’t by itself invalidate the quality and value of the product.
@Mark: I hoped I'd get a bite. ;-)
Point being that, generally speaking now, the second-hand market is generally less enamoured, reflected in these lower prices.
Perhaps because, rightly or wrongly but largely due to the political coercion in their promotion, they've become (becoming?) more identified by many buyers with wokeness than with whatever objective qualities they may have.
@ Peter - Yes, I agree with your point. It sometimes occurs to me, as I drive my Tesla around town that rural looking types in big 4WD's that see me perhaps assume I'm a tree hugging woke activist that would be anti their farm. If only they knew.
My point is that politics isn't everything. We should be careful to always put the facts first, not defining what we dislike based on what our political enemies like.
@Mark, you said, "My point is that politics isn't everything."
Couldn't agree more.
Depreciation is due to these items.
1. Teslas are not well assembled. Quality is low. For the money there are better assembled vehicles around.
2. Overall, EVs are less reliable than ICE vehicles. Worse news is that repair costs are higher.
For certain types of body damage, readily attend to with a conventional vehicle, the EV will be a write off (an example is where the car needs to be placed into a spray booth for a period of time). Don't be silly enough to think that the insurance actuaries have yet to notice.
Sometimes EVs catch fire without warning. Such lithium fires can't be extinguished by regular means and even after the fire appears to have been put out it can reignite days or even weeks later without warning.
Do not charge EVs in your home (garage) unless you are comfortable risking the house. Do not park your EV near another EV and leave it unattended (especially if the other EV is being charged).
3. Batteries are a consumable. They degrade over time, some faster than others. Tesla claims ten years life for their battery pack. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Best I've experienced is much lower. There have been plenty of packs falling to half capacity within 5 years of purchase. Some lower yet. Down to one third is not unknown in that time period. Battery packs are expensive, even 2nd hand ones (recently quoted NZ$7,000 for a Nissan battery pack already depleted to 50%).
4. They are expensive to finance and to operate.
5. They lack the utility of regular vehicles. You need to plan your life around the needs of the vehicle. For example, charging is not a five minute affair. Range anxiety is an issue because it relates to a real problem.
6. The best of the EVs have snappy acceleration from stand still. Some of them are very fast out of the hole with stunning 60ft and 0-100km times (~2sec). This is great fun and most appealing. It is entertaining, especially with a naïve passenger on board. Aside from fooling around with touch screen nonsense there is no particular skill involved in making a clean launch and accessing all the acceleration. So they do get hammered more than might be expected. Expect tyres and drivetrain issues with second hand EVs!
Now the fanboys may argue with any of this (and they certain try to). There is a saying, "You might be the smartest person in the room but you are not smarter than the room". One the subject of EV the market speaks. The market is smarter than all the fanboys. It is smarter than governments. It is way smarter than bureaucrats. But is it as powerful?
Perhaps if the market were able to be bought under complete control or even eliminated, they muse. They do have a power and they sure like to wield it.
On the subject of cars (private transport) you ought to read the UN and the WEF sustainability targets. 90% of private transport eliminated by 2030 they state. Now how would you go about attaining that goal? What would happen if you could force an expensive change along with all the instability that accompanies it? What if you could divide people so they argue and fight amongst each other about what flavour of propulsion is superior? What if you could break the car manufacturers by foisting them with crippling regulations and the need for massive capital expenditure in an uneconomic prospect?
"You will own nothing and be happy", they state.
You may not be interested in politics but politics is interested in you.
From
Jay
- Higher, for longer.
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