BluSmart’s collapse shows how fast EVs can become worthless

This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.

The resale value of electric vehicles is collapsing worldwide, hurting private owners and fleet operators.

The crisis became especially apparent when BluSmart, India’s pioneering all-electric ride-hailing service, collapsed in April amid financial fraud allegations. The Delhi-based company’s fleet of thousands of cars, originally worth over $12,000 each, suddenly flooded the market at about $3,000.

For Tesla owners in the US, their 2023 Model Ys are worth 42% less than what they paid two years ago, while a Ford F-150 truck bought the same year depreciated just 20%. Older EV models depreciate even faster than newer ones.

The crisis exposes the fundamental problem that nobody really knows what electric cars are worth in the secondhand market, as their value is largely tied to batteries with uncertain lifespans.

“For gas cars, there’s a 100-year process behind them based on odometer and major maintenance schedules and the expected life of combustion engine parts,” said Andrew Garberson, head of growth and research at Recurrent, a Seattle-based startup that evaluates the wear and tear on used EVs to bring transparency to the secondhand market. “Electric cars have fewer moving parts, and a lot of the value of the car is tied up in one component...

Read more