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The resale value is so bad (except for Teslas) that it probably makes more sense to lease electric cars than to buy new. Every generation of electric cars is s

The resale value is so bad (except for Teslas) that it probably makes more sense to lease electric cars than to buy new. Every generation of electric cars is such a big improvement over the previous one, especially in terms of range and fast charging, that the resale value of the old ones is unusually low.

Brakenshire 8y ago
It will be interesting at what point we’ll hit “good enough”. Somewhere around 200 miles of reliable range and 100kW charging speed I think is where it ceases to matter for most people. If you have off street parking you’ll only need to use a fast charger for road trips, and then you can drive for 3 hour periods with half an hour rest in between. We’re not quite there but not far off.
- twblalock 8y ago
  I think it's really more about the relative increase in range vs the absolute number. If a new car has 100 more miles of range than a used car, that will hurt the resale value of the used car. This is especially true today because the used cars didn't have that much range to begin with, but I suspect that will still be true when the current 300-mile cars are replaced with 400-mile or 500-mile cars. People want a lot more range than they actually need.
mikekchar 8y ago
I struggled with this one recently. My wife and I bought a 2 year old leaf (30 KWh) in Japan recently. We ended up with a pretty good deal -- the car only had 6K km on the dial and we're paying less than $300 per month with no down payment. I'm basically treating it as a lease. It was hard to find anyone here willing to lease a Leaf and I couldn't get them to give me an idea on the price without going into serious negotiations, so we went with the sale. It also helped that they gave us basically free charging for 2 years (they have a $20 per month unlimited charging plan, but then are giving us $20 per month in JCB gift certificates, which are accepted in enough places that it's essentially cash). My plan is to pay off the car in 5 years and replace it. I don't really expect to get anything substantial for it. When we end up replacing it, I may consider doing a battery swap instead. The dealer told me that you can swap the battery for about $7K. I'm wondering if it will be possible to upgrade things for a reasonable cost in 5 years time. I've been looking at the new e+ leafs and I think the form factor for the batteries is the same, so potentially you just need to swap out the batteries and replace the power management unit. Whether that's even possible, I don't know. Either way, if we can replace this car in 5 years with a car made 3 years from now, then I think we'll still be quite a bit ahead of the game compared to buying a new car. I was a bit nervous about going EV, but it's been a couple of months now and I've had literally no problems at all. Now sure how well it would work in many places in NA, but here in Japan, I've been very surprised about how convenient it has been. Doing our first real road trip next month, though. We'll see how it goes ;-)
steelframe 8y ago
In 2014 I leased a LEAF for 2 years. It lost about $15,000 in value over those two years, and I had to drive a LEAF during that time. Because I leased, Nissan ate most of that. In 2016 I bought a Tesla. Based on current resale numbers, it's lost about $15,000 in value over those two years. I'm eating that depreciation, but I get to drive a Tesla.

Brakenshire 8y ago

It will be interesting at what point we’ll hit “good enough”. Somewhere around 200 miles of reliable range and 100kW charging speed I think is where it ceases to matter for most people. If you have off street parking you’ll only need to use a fast charger for road trips, and then you can drive for 3 hour periods with half an hour rest in between. We’re not quite there but not far off.

twblalock 8y ago
I think it's really more about the relative increase in range vs the absolute number. If a new car has 100 more miles of range than a used car, that will hurt the resale value of the used car. This is especially true today because the used cars didn't have that much range to begin with, but I suspect that will still be true when the current 300-mile cars are replaced with 400-mile or 500-mile cars. People want a lot more range than they actually need.

mikekchar 8y ago

I struggled with this one recently. My wife and I bought a 2 year old leaf (30 KWh) in Japan recently. We ended up with a pretty good deal -- the car only had 6K km on the dial and we're paying less than $300 per month with no down payment. I'm basically treating it as a lease. It was hard to find anyone here willing to lease a Leaf and I couldn't get them to give me an idea on the price without going into serious negotiations, so we went with the sale. It also helped that they gave us basically free charging for 2 years (they have a $20 per month unlimited charging plan, but then are giving us $20 per month in JCB gift certificates, which are accepted in enough places that it's essentially cash). My plan is to pay off the car in 5 years and replace it. I don't really expect to get anything substantial for it. When we end up replacing it, I may consider doing a battery swap instead. The dealer told me that you can swap the battery for about $7K. I'm wondering if it will be possible to upgrade things for a reasonable cost in 5 years time. I've been looking at the new e+ leafs and I think the form factor for the batteries is the same, so potentially you just need to swap out the batteries and replace the power management unit. Whether that's even possible, I don't know. Either way, if we can replace this car in 5 years with a car made 3 years from now, then I think we'll still be quite a bit ahead of the game compared to buying a new car. I was a bit nervous about going EV, but it's been a couple of months now and I've had literally no problems at all. Now sure how well it would work in many places in NA, but here in Japan, I've been very surprised about how convenient it has been. Doing our first real road trip next month, though. We'll see how it goes ;-)

steelframe 8y ago

In 2014 I leased a LEAF for 2 years. It lost about $15,000 in value over those two years, and I had to drive a LEAF during that time. Because I leased, Nissan ate most of that. In 2016 I bought a Tesla. Based on current resale numbers, it's lost about $15,000 in value over those two years. I'm eating that depreciation, but I get to drive a Tesla.