Western governments have been promoting, and sometimes, requiring, the purchase of electric vehicles. This is one of the most foolish policy initiatives ever. Electric vehicles are essentially an obsolete technology; they have been the alleged next big thing in transportation for over 120 years, but have lost out because internal combustion cars are better and cheaper.
The extent to which consumers are refusing to swallow pro-EV hype is reflected in this Telegraph headline: “Electric car drivers ‘being plunged into negative equity’ as prices collapse.”
Vertu Motors said on Wednesday that car retailers were coming under pressure as EVs coming off financing agreements were found to be worth less than the loan they are attached to.
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It follows warnings last month that so-called fleet operators, such as car leasing firms and rental companies, were having to swallow large losses when reselling EVs because of “accelerated, exceptional depreciation”.In the past two years, the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) said the average amount of “residual value” left over at the end of a car’s lease period had plunged from 60pc to 35pc.
The linked article soft-pedals the obvious fact that used EV prices have plummeted because not many people want to buy an EV, either used or new. New EV sales are driven by government quotas and mandates, not by consumer demand.
This chart tells the story: EVs are depreciating much more rapidly than gasoline or diesel vehicles:
Is there a limit to how long governments can continue to shove unwanted products down consumers’ throats? We may soon find out.
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