Plug-In Cars Don’t Resell - Because They Don’t Sell

When the new plug-in sales share of the total market is only a pathetic 0.65%, this is hardly shocking:

Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf Prove Tough Resells – Used EV Market Less Than Booming

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Fuel-frugality aside, it seems the 2013 Chevy Volt and 2012 Nissan Leaf are proving to be expensive long-term investments.

One of the main questions every new car buyer should always ask themselves is what is the depreciation of the vehicle and therefore its potential resale value?  Recent reports have suggested that electric cars don’t hold their value quite as well as their regular counterparts.

Of course all new cars lose roughly 20% of their value the moment they roll off the lot.  But there are a lot of used plug-in-specific problems.

You don’t get the $7,500 federal bribe on the used ones.

The very-much-higher up-front retail price is rarely if ever made up in fuel savings over the life of the vehicle.

Americans Won’t Pay $40,000 for a $17,000 Car

The $40,000 Volt is basically a $17,000 Cruze – with a 500 lb., 25-mile range, eight-hour-to-charge battery. 

Speaking of the batteries:

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(T)he vaunted Volt batteries are then (in used cars) closer to extinction….And how much does it cost to replace a plug-in battery?  General Motors (GM) their own selves say the Volt’s is in the $8,000-$9,500 range

And in case they’re fibbing (as post-bailout GM is wont to do):

Ford CEO: Battery Is Third of Electric Car Cost

Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Alan Mulally indicated battery packs for the company’s Focus electric car costs between $12,000 and $15,000 apiece.

Plug-in cars are pathetic re-sells – because they are pathetic sells.

Good thing we’ve dumped more than $6.5 billion-in-government-subsidies-just-since-2008 into the plug-in car fantasy.

It’s working like a charm.

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