Depreciation is the difference between what you pay for a car and what you recover when you sell it. For an electric car, a useful estimate needs a specific version, age, mileage and resale date. A single percentage for all EVs cannot describe that purchase.
Use the price paid, not only the original list price
A used car advertised at a large discount to its original list price may still be expensive compared with equivalent cars available today. Likewise, a new-car discount changes your exposure to future depreciation. Keep the invoice price, finance costs and resale assumption separate.
MoneyHelper's car-budget guidance identifies depreciation as part of ownership cost and explains why age and mileage matter. It does not establish a future resale price for a particular EV.
Collect comparable evidence
- Match the exact battery, drivetrain, trim and generation. Similar badges can cover materially different cars.
- Compare the same age and mileage, and record the date of each valuation.
- Separate dealer asking prices from trade bids and completed transactions. A retail advert includes costs and margin you may not recover as a seller.
- Check accident history, service records, outstanding finance and remaining warranty.
- For the battery, obtain available condition evidence and read the warranty's capacity, age and mileage terms. Dashboard range alone is not a battery-health certificate.
Test uncertainty without inventing a forecast
Use documented valuations to define a range of possible resale outcomes, then label each as an assumption. Ownership depreciation equals purchase price minus net sale proceeds. Each pound less recovered at sale adds a pound to that component of ownership cost.
Keep mileage and ownership period identical when comparing cars. If a lower resale outcome would erase the expected charging savings, that uncertainty should remain visible in the decision. There is no universal annual mileage at which every EV becomes cheaper than every hybrid.
What leasing and PCP change
A return-based contract can limit your direct exposure to the eventual resale price, but its payments already reflect the provider's costs and risk. Mileage limits, condition charges and early termination still matter. For PCP, read the agreement's final-payment and return conditions before treating a guaranteed future value as cash you will receive.
For a privately owned car, compare the expected asset value and any remaining debt at the end of the same period. Do not add the full purchase price and depreciation together: that counts part of the capital cost twice.
Why the earlier ranking is no longer shown
The previous article attributed precise annual residual curves and model rankings to valuation providers without a verifiable underlying dataset. It also presented future losses as if they had already been observed. Those figures have been removed. This guide makes no claim that a particular brand will retain the most value in 2026 or that all electric cars depreciate at the same rate.