“Already we can see the likes of new entrant BYD targeting it with £199-per-month deals and low deposits. But where are the incentives for private buyers? There’s no clear incentive for them to transition to EVs. There’s a big imbalance.”
This absence of support for private EV buyers, most of whom can only afford to buy used, presents car makers and leasing companies with a challenge: how to manage the flow of ex-company EVs into the used car market without oversupplying it and sending carefully calculated residual values into freefall as retail buyers struggle to afford them.
Car finance companies are already ringing alarm bells about the weak residual values of some EVs. Startline Motor Finance CEO Paul Burgess said: “The last year has been a turbulent one for the used EV market and many dealers have been bruised by the reductions in values of stock.
Very few seem to be concerned about the huge numbers of ex-company car EVs that will soon arrive in comparatively large quantities.
There will need to be a corresponding increase in demand if values aren’t to suffer further.” However, Cap HPI, which has been at the forefront of tracking used EV values, believes their prospects aren’t as bleak as some would believe.
