Owners of electric cars have been warned that their vehicles are losing value at up to twice the rate of petrol vehicles.
Electric vehicles are estimated to be losing thousands of pounds every year with early switchers to EVs suffering price fall of around 39 per cent between 2020 and 2023, according to a car comparison website.
Research by Choose My Car shows that petrol car prices fell by just 30 per cent over the same period.
GB News says that successive governments have pushed EVs, with the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles banned from 2030 as part of the net-zero strategy.
However, it reports that going green could see motorists lose thousands of pounds, with some car models falling in value at twice the rate of their petrol counterparts.
READ MORE: 2030 vehicle ban may be ‘as simple’ as swapping cars for electric
An electric BMW i3 bought in 2020 would have cost £39,000 and could sell £13,900 today.
The petrol equivalent has seen a much smaller drop from around £32,000 to £22,360.
Choose My Car’s research revealed EVs had lost £15,000 of their value on average over a three-year period. The average electric car included in the study was initially purchased for £38,600.
Meanwhile, petrol vehicles had lost £9,900 from an initial purchase price of £32,700.
Choose My Car’s Nick Zapolski said: “Not only are the EVs themselves not holding value, but the price of electricity itself has also zoomed up, meaning running the cars is not as economical as it once was.”
Meanwhile, new data shows that waiting times for electric vehicles have fallen for the sixth month in a row as supply chain issues ease and demand slows.
Buyers of electric cars now have to wait an average of five months to get the keys to their new car with waiting times down by 42 per cent since their peak in October 2022. They are also down by 20 per cent on the same period in February.
Electric car experts Electrifying.com said that an increase in production and reduced pressure on supply chains had helped reduce waiting times, but the lack of more affordable electric vehicles was causing buyers to delay purchases.
Ginny Buckley, founder and CEO of Electrifying.com, said: “Drivers wanting to get the keys to a new car as soon as possible are in luck, with waiting times just a fraction of what they were even six months ago.
“Demand for electric cars has increased – we can see this in the most recent registration statistics, but I fear that private buyers are being left behind.
“If we’re to bring everyone along on the journey, car makers now need to make sure that more affordable models are launched to help drive uptake among mainstream consumers.”
Recent figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that large fleets and vehicles bought for businesses are responsible for more than half the electric vehicles registered during April.
