this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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Electric Vehicles

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It's a brutal time to sell and a helluva time to buy. The used EV market is in freefall, and it's current owners that are holding the bag. But if you've been looking for the time to get into a modern, long-range EV, it may be now.

New data from Edmunds shows that EV values have fallen 20.5% year over year. That's a seismic shift. The overall used car market, for reference, has cooled by 6.8% over the same time period. That's a big swing for the market as a whole, but the EV swing is gargantuan. Compared to average used vehicle values during the second quarter of 2022, EV values in Q2 2024 are down a whopping 38.5%.

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[–] bstix@feddit.dk 39 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It's hardly a surprise. New EVs have been highly priced for the last many years and considered to be luxury or marketed towards the first mover market.

There has only been a tiny used market until now, so obviously availability can only increase which brings down the prices. Demand will tail behind because many first time buyers will be scared to buy used. It'll stabilise somewhere.

It's not a bad thing, unless you want to sell right now and buy new again.

When I switched to EV I did the calculations based on writing off the car entirely after 10 years. It'll probably last longer, but just to get the full depreciation into my calculations of whether it was worth switching at that time. The equations crossed after 6 years, so anything I could sell it for then would be profit in comparison to my car budget.

Anyway, my point is that the current value doesn't change my situation in any way. It was and is still a good deal for me to switch to EV. Gotta get on the train somewhere. Waiting for the market to adjust down to the sticker price on ICE cars is more expensive than worrying about resell value, unless you already know that you need to sell it again shortly.

[–] 1371113@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

My god it’s like we’re twins. Exact same thought process.

[–] barsquid@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What are these calculations, like expected cost of electricity vs. cost of fuel and so on, imagining a maximum lifetime of 10 years?

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes. There are soo many variables that you need a spreadsheet to figure it out. There is no easy way to say that EV is cheaper than ICE unless you know the purchase price, your expected mileage, cost of fuel, depreciation, potential subsidiaries, financing, servicing, repairs, etc. for the time of owning the car. It might not be.

Nobody can know all the variables in advance, so what I did was to calculate the worst possible scenario for the EV against my somewhat more known cost of continuing buying beater cars (which was the cheapest option for me in comparison to buying new ICE cars also, and also on my budget because I knew how much I spent on it previously).

The EVs worst scenario was way ahead of the best scenario ICE, but it was very mileage dependant. I commute 50 km (30 miles) every day and then some. I get my electricity tax free because of government subsidiary and my financing was cheaper because it's an EV (less than 1% interest), but this is obviously very local. ALL variables must be known to some degree, but it's never as simple as comparing the purchase price. While that's the most easily known factor it doesn't actually matter much after 10 years, because all the variables make up for it long before.

Also, charging at home vs. subscribing to a charging service and getting the right electricity subscription are completely different calculations also depending on location, usage and availability. I live in Denmark (Europe) and charging at home with variable price and feedback subsidized commission is absolutely the cheapest option unless you're a traveling salesman putting thousands of kilometres every week.

By doing worst case against a known case I am always pleasantly surprised when we have negative electricity prices, because the actual calculation would break down at that point. My actual costs are continuously better than my expectations, so if my expectations are good enough, well then my actual situation is a lot better.

I can only urge people to gather their data, figure it out and have a look. There will be cases where an ICE car is cheaper, but in my situation, I can't find it at all.

[–] barsquid@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

That's really useful to consider, thank you for going into some more details on that.

[–] Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz 9 points 2 months ago

Good news for me I guess.

[–] bravesilvernest@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 months ago

Still too much for me, but I'm glad we're finally getting down in prices.

[–] nadram@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wait until solid state batteries start making it to the market 😎

[–] RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

And please, make them swappable. I'm afraid to buy used because the battery is a gamble. If I could just go to the shop and have them pop a new one in in about half an hour, I'd be really interested.

[–] Nomecks@lemmy.ca 17 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's not a gamble, just EV haters keeping that myth alive. You don't worry about the replacement engine cost of an ICE, do you?

[–] RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No, because I know I'll get at least thrive the mileage out of them I typically use them. I have no experience on EVs though.

[–] ebc@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 months ago (4 children)

The fact that the battery is usually the part that has the longest warranty should tell you everything. I have never seen a warranty on an engine longer than 5 years and 100 000 km, but batteries are routinely 10+ years.

[–] barsquid@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What percentage of capacity does the warranty cover? I had batteries covered under phone plans before and it turns out even a significantly lower capacity counts as "working like normal."

[–] ebc@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

Tesla's covers 70% if I remember correctly

[–] lemming741@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

They're still shitboxes but 10 year 100k mile power train coverage is out there.

[–] ebc@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is that the default warranty though? My PHEV has a 10-year warranty on the battery, 3 years on the rest by default, I didn't pay for any extra coverage (Chrysler).

[–] lemming741@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

https://www.hyundaiusa.com/us/en/assurance/america-best-warranty

With that said- Do not, under any circumstances, buy a Hyundai.

[–] RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 2 months ago

Good to know, thanks. Next car might have a charging socket

[–] BastingChemina 1 points 2 months ago

Recently in Thailand MG have started to offer lifetime, unlimited mileage warranty for the battery !

The battery wear was an issue for the first EV with bad thermal but more it is not really a problem anymore.