How going green & buying an electric car could end up leaving you out of pocket

THE value of some of the most in-demand electric cars is falling at two times the rate of petrol cars, new research has discovered.

Most mainstream motors will experience a steady decline in value over time, due to factors such as increasing age, mileage covered and general wear and tear.

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However, a new study has found that, on average, battery powered cars will lose 51 percent of their original value (based on data from 2020 to 2023), compared to just 37 percent for petrol models.

This means a huge £15,220 drop for owners of EVs, compared to £9,901 for drivers of petrol cars, reports The Express.

The worrying information comes from ChooseMyCar.com – using a comparison of new model prices from three years ago compared to their current value.

Put simply, the higher the original purchase price of the car, the bigger the loss – with the Tesla Model S losing £25,000 in value over 36 months of ownership, equating to a fall of 46%.

Shockingly, even popular entry-level EVs like the Nissan Leaf were affected by big levels of depreciation, recording a fall of £13,000 (58%).

Nick Zapolski, of ChooseMyCar.com, said: “Our research shows yet another blow for EV owners, on top of many other issues that have come to light recently.

“Not only are the EVs themselves not holding value, the price of electricity itself has zoomed up, meaning running the cars is not as economical as it once was.”

One thing that hasn’t helped matters is the Government doing away with its Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (around a year ago), which previously helped drivers to save money on installing an EV charger at home.

Many are now calling on the Government to bring the scheme back to support motorists making the switch to an electric car.

Mr Zapolski continued: “Home charge points are expensive to install (if you even had the necessary driveway to allow that) and there has been uproar about the availability and reliability of public charge points.

“On top of that, recent decisions made by the Government mean that some of the initial incentives to encourage EV ownership are being discontinued, such as lower tax and free entry into ULEZ zones.

“The Government really needs to take action if it wants to continue to push the idea of EVs onto the consumer, as currently the cons of EV ownership threaten to outweigh the pros.”