Photo. Markus Scholz/dpa
17:19, 25 January 2024
The mood for used car dealers in Germany is not very happy – the market for used electric cars in Germany has died out. The demand is zero. Many will therefore try to sell electric cars abroad. There is still demand for these cars in Scandinavian countries and Switzerland. Germany simply lacks trust, this topic was reviewed by the portal Tagesschau.de.
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Last year, around 97,000 used electric cars were sold in Germany. This is only 1.6% of the entire used car market. What is the reason for this skepticism?
One reason: high prices. On November 23, used electric cars were sold on the mobile.de platform
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offered for an average of around €38,000 – almost €10,000 more than the average asking price for used diesel or petrol cars.
And it is relatively expensive. According to a market analysis by mobile.de, Germans want to spend around 14,000 euros less. Supply and demand hardly match.
Prices of used electric cars are falling faster on average. Actual sales prices were already under pressure at the end of 2023.
According to the data of the industry association DAT, three-year-old electric cars were sold 4.3% cheaper than at the beginning of the year. A smaller price drop was observed for gasoline engines (0.5%) and diesel engines (2.7%) of the same age.
With some manufacturers now offering ever-greater discounts on new electric cars, the prices of such used cars will also continue to fall.
However, this could increase the reluctance of customers to buy such a car, since the resale value after a few years cannot be realistically determined at the moment.
That is why, according to mobile.de, four times more customers choose the leasing model when buying used electric cars.
Prices are still high and residual value uncertain, and there is still a small selection of used models. It is true, however, that the number of leasing returns and returned used company cars will increase significantly this year. The residual values determined at the beginning of the lease were supposedly correct. However, they no longer correspond to the current market. This means that the lessor is operating at a loss.
The battery is the great unknown
The biggest factor of uncertainty for customers is the drive itself – especially the battery. It is the main element of the car and can cause losses of almost half of the car’s value.
Most manufacturers now offer an eight-year warranty. However, ADAC recommends that you check the battery’s “health status” before buying a used electric car. “Then you will know relatively accurately whether you are buying a cat in a bag – whether the car is still good,” explains ADAC.
So far, there are no single batteries state of health testing standard. Often dealers answer only for their brand, although there are original systems that can check almost all models.
Still having problems charging. In addition to price and battery, Germany still lacks a high-performance charging infrastructure.
This is also why electric cars have such a hard time transitioning into the private sector and are still more of a niche product.
According to official statistics, since the introduction of the environmental premium, 80% of funding applications have been submitted by companies. The tax breaks made electric company cars particularly attractive.
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The federal government actually had very ambitious plans. Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced in December 2021 that
by 2030 there should be 15 million electric cars on German roads. Without a functioning second-hand market – experts agree – this goal is utopian.
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2024-01-25 15:27:35
#market #electric #cars #Germany #completely #dead #Germans #thrifty #cautious #expensive
