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Second hand value for EVs is falling - why do you think that is?

ended 15. January 2026

Prices for Britain’s most popular electric vehicles fell in Q4 2025, according to the latest AA Cars Used Car Index.

The second-hand value of the electric Nissan Leaf has fallen by 28.4% over the past 12
months while the Renault Zoe's value has fallen by 17.7% and Tesla Model 3's value has fallen by 16.7%. The Hyundai Ioniq has also fallen by 11.1%.

James Hosking, Managing Director of AA Cars, comments: “Much of last year’s price reset was driven by a surge in ex-fleet EVs reaching the used market at the same time as manufacturers reduced new EV prices to stimulate demand. That created strong downward pressure across the board.

He added: “We’re also seeing signs that demand for electrified vehicles is becoming more resilient. With more models available at lower price points, buyers who were previously priced out of EV ownership are now actively entering the market. 

“The recent Budget announcement on a future pay-per-mile tax for EVs adds a new variable to the outlook, and it remains to be seen how it will shape buyer sentiment - particularly for high-mileage drivers. It’s simply too early to know what effect this might have on future EV pricing, but clarity and consistency in how the policy is introduced will be important to help maintain consumer confidence in both the new and used markets."

  • Do you own one of these cars? 
  • What's your reaction to the second-hand value of EVs dropping in one year?
  • Why do you think the value of EVs are dropping?

Responses by 8am tomorrow please.

8 responses from the Newspage community

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Laura Purkess
Personal Finance Expert at Investing Insiders
There isn't one single reason for why second hand EV values have fallen, but rather a mixture of reasons that combined have driven prices down. For one, over the past few years, a huge number of EVs that were bought new or purchased via car finance schemes have ended, leading to a wave of supply in the secondhand market. The EV market is also fast-growing and a huge number are being made, and while consumer demand is high, it has failed to keep up with supply recently. EV firms often have sales targets to meet, and they often offer incentives to people who buy new cars, potentially pinching customers from the secondhand market.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
The EV dream has run out of battery. They are expensive to buy, expensive to replace batteries making them almost disposable and infrastructure doesn’t support them fully in this country. On top of that, the promised tax benefits have also been removed so there is no real incentive. I have never been interested in an EV and won’t be buying anytime soon as, sane with everything else in this country, it has turned into a gravy train rather than a green one.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
The vast majority of electric vehicles are leased, so residual values for new vehicles are not really of the drivers concern. 2nd hand prices are being pushed lower given the rising number of ex-leased vehicles returned to market , so supply is definitely outweighing demand at the moment. It’s no surprise that the likes of Tesla are launching new cheaper models of their popular range to appeal to those that buy rather than lease, and make longer ownership a more affordable and attractive option, but as the fear of battery failure in older EV’s hasn’t been tackled, drivers are still divided about ownership over the more disposable leasing option.
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Craig Fish
Director at Lodestone Mortgages
Having recently leased an EV myself, I’m not surprised by these figures, but I am frustrated by the policy confusion driving them. The government appears to be lurching from one announcement to the next, and that uncertainty is toxic for consumer confidence. When manufacturers slash new EV prices, ex-fleet vehicles flood the market and technology evolves at lightning speed, depreciation is inevitable. Add in talk of future pay-per-mile taxes and buyers naturally hesitate. For me, any extra costs are a business expense, but it reinforces why I wouldn’t buy an EV outright. Leasing protects against rapid value erosion, while the real opportunity now sits in the used market, where falling prices are finally making EV ownership accessible to a much wider audience
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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
I think the glimmer and excitement of EVs is dimming and people are seeing them for what they are, Posh milk floats.
I had an EV for a short while and range anxiety is real.
I also hated adding 30mins to a journey to recharge, you can whack in Petrol in 5 minutes and be back on the road.
The issue for resale is battery problems and cost to replace. Once the warranty goes you can be looking at a 5figure sum if the battery packs up.
This makes a second hand EV extortionately expensive.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Having an electric car and seeing the depreciation, I would only continue to lease if I remained electric. The concept is novel, but the infrastructure is light-years behind, and the range anxiety is real when you're on the M25 in winter and realise the mileage is based on hope and prayer unless you don't put the heater or radio on.
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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
Successive governments have manipulated the primary market with tax incentives which created an artificial sugar rush of EV fleet adoption but they forgot that the secondary market operates on cold hard demand.

Buyers are rightly terrified of purchasing a used asset where the battery represents half the value and possesses the degradation curve of a smartphone.

We are effectively asking consumers to catch a falling knife in a sector where technology moves so fast that a three year old electric car looks like a Betamax player.
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Colette Mason
AI Ethics Consultant at Clever Clogs AI
Range anxiety, mystery battery replacement costs, patchy infrastructure, these aren't EV problems. They're black box problems. When users can't see what's happening under the bonnet, can't predict costs, and can't rely on the support ecosystem, they stop trusting. And when trust fails, so does out-of-warranty resale value.

I see the same pattern with AI adoption. Brilliant marketing, underwhelming experiences. Users get sold shiny promises, then discover the hidden costs when they're already committed. No wonder they're walking away.

The EV solution isn't clever marketing. It's making the invisible visible. What does battery degradation actually cost? Where are the reliable charging points? When will this thing actually get me home on a long run?

EVs won't rebuild buyer confidence until manufacturers treat transparency as a feature, not a liability. Same goes for any tech trying to displace what people already trust. Make me smarter about using it, not stupider for buying it.