The depressing reality of buying an EV: Especially bad resale [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS]

[AliRafiee]

They’re going to make it up on volume!

I was being sarcastic. ?

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[DennisD]

The money is still lost — the loss just hasn’t been realized yet. They aren’t going to go up in value so the complaint of OP is valid about abysmal resale and huge financial hit, realized yet or not.

But if you keep the car for 10 years and have 300k miles on it, the "loss" is negligible . The longer you keep the car, the more you will save by not replacing it with another depreciated asset.

For those that are selling them now is like those that sell stock when it is low.

I would hold onto your MME as long as you can if you are worried about depreciation. Once again, if you hold onto it long enough it doesn't matter what today's price is. Almost all cars depreciate down to almost nothing so today's MME is no different than those that didn't depreciate at the same rate. Realized or not. ?

 

[tucsondivots]

This is a smart move on leasing. Although sales seem to be improving, I don't think the MME is selling well, so Ford priced a lease to be attractive.

"Cloud Theory states that Mach E’s turn rate, the percentage of vehicles clearing from the inventory over a certain period, was still below the industry average. Even though its turn rate soared from 7% to 33% since the price cuts, it remains under the industry average of 45%."

I just leased a 2024 MME Premium. $9,600 incentive.

 

[Dear_OP]

I agree this bashing point is seems to be missing context. The Engineers that designed it and the tooling for the plant that makes them have huge capital outlays. They will recover in time. The more cars they make with the same parts and processes, the faster they recover cost. Ford used that as a talking point to avoid decreasing costs further. My opinion is that this backfired and created loss leader press.

You can also blame the press for fear, uncertainty and doubt bathed in sensationally misleading headlines. Those drive down perceived value. Get a hybrid if that is what you want. For a daily driver, I think the battery car is a winner.

It's even stupider that Ford is buying Carbon Credits from Tesla. I thought this thing is over now that legacy mfgs are building their own EVs. I don't get this.

From All-Electric Ambitions to Hybrid Reality

In a warped logic, every Ford buyer is also paying Tesla. Like how crazy is this????

 

[davem251]

It was forced by govt dictates. Now that the investment to develop the car has been spent it makes sense to amortize those costs over more units which will decrease the loss per unit over time as tooling and development cost are usually amortized of the first 3-4 years of production. Why govts should stay out of the free markeplace — they just F things up.

Yeah, if only the govt had not forced seat belts and catalytic converters on us…

 

[DesignMatters]

Yeah, if only the govt had not forced seat belts and catalytic converters on us…

Yeah forcing a more expensive and inferior overall product on consumers while stripping the Earth of rare Earth minerals is genius stuff -- very analogous to saving lives via low cost seatbelts which folks readily adopted. EV's have been rejected in free markets by all except greenies and affluents which is why their resale is absolute sh*t per the point of OP. Not at all surprised you are from Maryland.

 

[Fat Mach]

Actually, it isn't. You and the leasing company agreed to a fixed buyout value at the end of the leasing period. Rather than negotiate a lower buyout, they'll send the car to auction. Or it might end up on the dealer's lot for sale for a lower amount a month later. Depends upon how the leasing company feels the market is going. But they won't negotiate with you directly.

Cool story. I've done it, and I saved 25%. Have you even tried?

 

[thekat03]

Yeah forcing a more expensive and inferior overall product on consumers while stripping the Earth of rare Earth minerals is genius stuff -- very analogous to saving lives via low cost seatbelts which folks readily adopted. EV's have been rejected in free markets by all except greenies and affluents which is why their resale is absolute sh*t per the point of OP. Not at all surprised you are from Maryland.

More expensive... For now. But the tech continues to get more affordable over time.

Inferior overall product... To some, but there are a lot of people in this forum who have said and continue to believe that this is the best car they have owned. I love my car.

The rare earth metals can be reclaimed at the end of the car's life. The fossil fuels used to run ICE cars is burned up and gone.

The demand for EVs continues to go up, but that transition is going to take time, as the infrastructure needs to grow to meet demand. I feel bad for those who have discovered that an EV isn't a good car for them after they purchased it, because the initial depreciation is a doozy, but it also comes with the territory. All cars depreciate a lot in the first year, and EVs are hit harder because they're more like computers that can drive, and people don't generally complain about how quickly computers depreciate. The tax incentives make the depreciation worse, unfortunately, but serve a purpose (which I have decided not to itemize because this is probably too political so, just not going there tonight). The best way to deal with this depreciation is to buy the car used, and/or drive it for the next 10+ years. Or wait for the next world-stopping pandemic to kill supply chains and car production, making all cars still in driveable condition more in demand. ?

 

[Socalsp3]

It was forced by govt dictates. Now that the investment to develop the car has been spent it makes sense to amortize those costs over more units which will decrease the loss per unit over time as tooling and development cost are usually amortized of the first 3-4 years of production. Why govts should stay out of the free markeplace — they just F things up.

Maybe they shouldn't subsidize oil production or farming either

 

[RickMachE]

After paying for tax, title, licensing fees, etc., I owe way more than the car is worth. Worse, had I waited until early 2024 to buy the car, I could have at least gotten a $4500 tax credit for two-year-old used EVs.

You got several things wrong, but this is the most inaccurate.

Price cannot exceed $25,000. You would not have qualified.

If you buy a $25,000 or lower priced 2 model year old EV from a car dealer, and you met the income qualifications, you could have gotten a tax credit of 30%, up to $4,000. $25,000 x .3 = $7,500, you would only get $4,000.

I won't go into how the Ford loss is an accounting thing...

 

[ryannix123]

You got several things wrong, but this is the most inaccurate.

Price cannot exceed $25,000. You would not have qualified.

If you buy a $25,000 or lower priced 2 model year old EV from a car dealer, and you met the income qualifications, you could have gotten a tax credit of 30%, up to $4,000. $25,000 x .3 = $7,500, you would only get $4,000.

I won't go into how the Ford loss is an accounting thing...

Ok, so I got the tax credit on a two-year-old EV incorrect. Three-year-old MMEs with around 40k miles are selling for $25k right now.

As for Ford's accounting:

"Farley has said that Ford will focus on smaller, more affordable EVs in the future, rather than the large SUVs and trucks that Ford is known for. He believes that this is necessary to achieve profitability and to make EVs more accessible to the public.

Farley has said that it's "undeniable" that EVs will eventually be profitable, but that Ford is still years away from that point."

 

[RickMachE]

Ok, so I got the tax credit on a two-year-old EV incorrect. Three-year-old MMEs with around 40k miles are selling for $25k right now.

As for Ford's accounting:

"Farley has said that Ford will focus on smaller, more affordable EVs in the future, rather than the large SUVs and trucks that Ford is known for. He believes that this is necessary to achieve profitability and to make EVs more accessible to the public.

Farley has said that it's "undeniable" that EVs will eventually be profitable, but that Ford is still years away from that point."

Yes, losing money. Not $60,000 per...

 

[DennisD]

There's only one metric to consider: cost-per-mile. Keep the car a decade or more and drive it 200,000 miles and deprecation is immaterial.

Simple logic but yet hard for some on this thread to comprehend.

 

[DennisD]

Yeah forcing a more expensive and inferior overall product on consumers while stripping the Earth of rare Earth minerals is genius stuff -- very analogous to saving lives via low cost seatbelts which folks readily adopted. EV's have been rejected in free markets by all except greenies and affluents which is why their resale is absolute sh*t per the point of OP. Not at all surprised you are from Maryland.

And yet you own one.

It is like wearing a Kansas City Chiefs hat and suggesting that all KC fans are morons.

 

[jay1122]

If you keep your car long enough, it usually ends up on the same resale value as most daily cars. After the car has over 100K miles. It is always only worth 10-15K trade in. Only a few models retains value better at that point. Lexus comes mind due to the reliability. But BMW, MB, Cadillac, etc, not far off from the MME in value at that point.

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