Electric vehicles are losing their value at twice rate of petrol cars

SOME electric vehicles (EV) models are losing their value at twice the rate of the petrol equivalents, it was claimed.

EV prices have plummeted by 39 per cent between 2020 and 2023, while petrol car value fell 30 per cent in the same period, according to Choose My Car.

Drivers have been pushed towards EVS by government initiatives intended to help reach net zero by 2050. But they risk losing thousands of pounds more than those who stick with petrol.

A driver who bought an electric BMW i3 in 2020 paid £39,000 but could only sell the car for £13,900 today, a depreciation of 64 per cent.

The petrol version has maintained much more value. A new petrol BMW 3 series cost £32,000, on average, three years ago but would sell for £22,360 now – a drop of just 30 per cent.

The used car website said electric cars had lost £15,000 on average over a three-year period, from an average purchase price of £38,600. This compared with £9,900 for petrol vehicles, from an initial £32,700 purchase price.

Electric car prices had fallen so fast they had wiped out any savings from Government grants. Other incentives to switch to EVS, such as lower tax and free entry to ultra-low emissions zones, have also been discontinued.

Stuart Masson, of The Car Expert, said early EV adopters, who paid high prices only to suffer a steep drop in value, were being hit by a “double whammy”. He said: “Every month electric car prices fall it is good news for everyone who wants to switch, but early adopters are subsidising that by essentially funding manufacturers’ research and development costs.”

Mr Masson said the rapid decline of EV prices was happening “at a rate much higher than simple market forces” because of the net zero drive.

As part of its ambition to reach zero carbon emissions by 2050, the Government will ban the sale of new petrol cars by 2030, and manufacturers are minded to sell an increasing proportion of zeroemissions vehicles every year until the deadline.