A three-year-old Tesla Model S may have a better resale value compared to other comparable electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States, says a new study from iSeeCars.
Among ten EVs with three years worth of ownership, the Model S only suffered a 17.1 percent depreciation compared to an average of 56.6 percent for the other nine vehicles. For example, a compact luxury electric vehicle like the BMW i3 suffers a faint-inducing 63.3 percent depreciation on average after three years of ownership. On the other hand, the Chevrolet Volt takes a still painful 52.8 percent dent in value in the same time frame.
It is worth noting that iSeeCars’ depreciation calculation places government incentives on top of the vehicle’s purchase price, thus making the car’s value retention seem worse than it really is.
Apart from that, Phong Ly, CEO of iSeeCars, also attributes EVs’ staggering depreciation to rapid technological advancement in batteries and electric motors. On top of that, range anxiety and the lack of robust public charging infrastructure also play a part in the depreciation.
But Electrek believes that the Model S’ relatively smaller depreciation comes down to its evolving software system. With Tesla’s software-heavy approach that sends tweaks and fixes through over-the-air updates, the company’s electric vehicles become better and smarter over time.
In April 2019, the Canadian federal government launched a $5,000 EV purchase incentive across the nation. Residents in British Columbia and Quebec may stack the federal incentive with their respective provincial incentive to get even more discounts on a new EV
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