That’s good news for EV adoption overall, but not so great for owners who already own an EV and are seeing their cars lose value at alarmingly high rates in the resale market.
New data from Recurrent - an EV battery analysis and research firm - reveals that used EV prices for leading models had fallen 27 percent year over year as of this month, with some models selling for as low as $10,000.
The result of this is that, for the first time, prospective buyers are awash with attractive budget options, and many used EVs are now roughly as cheap as comparable fossil-fuel powered cars.
Cheap second hand EVs comes, of course, at the expense of existing EV owners who bought before prices started to come down. So, buyers of new cars are now switching to leasing rather than owning outright - this protects them from losing value in the resale market if used EV prices continue to slide.
Experts told Fortune that Tesla’s price cuts deserve most of the credit - or blame, if you’re an EV owner whose car’s resale value has fallen because of the discounts.
As almost all electric cars to date have been on the expensive side with automakers seemingly disregarding the mass market potential - plus the imminent arrival of cheap imports on the horizon - drivers interested in buying a used EV can expect ever more cheaply priced options. That's good news for mass adoption.