Electric car depreciation UK 2026
A £28,330 Vauxhall Corsa Electric is forecast to be worth about £8,325 after three years and 36,000 miles — 29.4% of list. A £26,405 Mini Cooper Electric holds £16,325, or 61.8%. That 32-point spread, not the fuel type, is the real story of electric car depreciation in the UK in 2026: the average used EV is finally rising in price again, but individual models are diverging further than ever.
Direct answer
How much do electric cars depreciate in the UK?
Most electric cars sold in the UK lose 38–48% of their list price over three years and 36,000 miles, but the honest range is far wider than any single average suggests: published What Car? forecast resale values run from 29.4% retained for a Vauxhall Corsa Electric to 61.8% for a Mini Cooper Electric SE. Directly comparable petrol models cluster in a narrower band — a petrol Mini Cooper C retains 57.3% and an Audi A1 35 TFSI 60.7%.
The headline conclusion many buyers still carry from 2023 — that EVs automatically depreciate faster than petrol cars — no longer holds as a blanket rule. The best-placed electric models now match or beat their own petrol siblings on retained value. What has changed is the dispersion: badge, battery size, warranty transferability and how heavily the model was discounted when new now matter more for an EV than for an equivalent combustion car. Two electric hatchbacks of similar price can be 30 percentage points apart after three years.
Two market-level numbers frame that. Auto Trader’s Retail Price Index recorded the average used EV at £24,662 in June 2026, up 1.6% year on year — the first annual growth since December 2022, ending roughly 40 consecutive months of decline. Within that, three-to-five-year-old EVs rose 8.9% to £19,295 and sold in 21 days. The floor, in other words, appears to have been found.
The data
3-year residual values: electric vs petrol, UK 2026
The table below uses published What Car? forecast resale values at the standard UK benchmark of three years and 36,000 miles, expressed as a percentage of list price. Petrol and hybrid comparators are included on exactly the same basis. These are forecast trade-facing values for a car in average condition with full service history, not private sale asking prices — expect a private buyer to pay somewhat more.
Source: published What Car? forecast resale values at 3 years / 36,000 miles, 2026. Forecasts, not guaranteed values.
| Model (version priced) | Fuel | List price | Value after 3yr / 36k | % of list retained |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini Cooper Electric SE Classic 54kWh | Electric | £26,405 | £16,325 | 61.8% |
| Audi A1 35 TFSI Black Edition S tronic | Petrol | £27,725 | £16,825 | 60.7% |
| Renault Scenic E-Tech | Electric | £37,195 | £21,875 | 58.8% |
| Mini Cooper 1.5 C Classic | Petrol | £25,265 | £14,475 | 57.3% |
| Audi A6 Avant e-tron 100kWh Edition One | Electric | £73,615 | £39,225 | 53.3% |
| Volkswagen ID. Buzz Style Pro 86kWh LWB | Electric | £64,295 | £33,825 | 52.6% |
| Hyundai Kona 1.6 Hybrid N Line DCT | Full hybrid | £32,835 | £16,375 | 49.9% |
| Porsche Taycan Turbo S | Electric | £163,200 | £53,075 | 32.5% |
| Vauxhall Mokka Electric | Electric | £34,280 | £11,100 | 32.4% |
| Vauxhall Corsa Electric 50kWh | Electric | £28,330 | £8,325 | 29.4% |
Source: published What Car? forecast resale values at 3 years / 36,000 miles (2026), for the specific version named. Percentages are calculated from those two figures. Basis: forecast trade values for a car in average condition with full service history and no damage; private sale prices are typically higher and part-exchange offers lower. Forecasts are revised as the used market moves and are not a guarantee of what any individual car will fetch.
Market history
Why used EV values fell so hard in 2023–25 — and where they are now
The collapse in used electric values between 2023 and 2025 was not really about electric cars failing. It was a supply shock meeting a price war. Four forces stacked up at once:
- The first big fleet wave defleeted. Salary-sacrifice and company-car EVs registered in 2021–22, encouraged by very low benefit-in-kind rates, all reached the end of three-year contracts inside a narrow window. Large volumes of near-identical cars hit the trade at the same time.
- New-car list prices were cut underneath them. When a manufacturer reduces the price of a new model, every used example repositions instantly. Repeated new-EV price cuts through 2023–24 dragged three-year-old stock down with them.
- Retail demand lagged supply. Private buyers were slower to adopt used EVs than fleets were to supply them, and public charging costs and range anxiety were still doing real damage to confidence.
- Battery uncertainty was priced in pessimistically. With little long-term degradation data in the market, the trade discounted for a risk that has largely not materialised.
By 2026 those pressures have unwound rather than disappeared. Demand has caught up: SMMT recorded 86,943 used battery-electric transactions in Q1 2026, up 32.0%, taking BEVs to a record 4.3% of the 2,016,232 used cars that changed hands — nearly one in 23 buyers, against roughly one in 30 a year earlier. Auto Trader’s June 2026 index then showed used EV prices turning positive year on year for the first time since December 2022.
cap hpi’s month-by-month trade data tells the same story more soberly: BEV values at the three-year, 60,000-mile benchmark are still drifting down in some months, but the rate of decline has shrunk markedly compared with the equivalent months of 2023, 2024 and 2025. The reasonable read for 2026 is stabilisation with pockets of genuine growth — not a recovery back to 2022 price levels, which is not coming.
Model by model
Which electric cars hold their value best — and worst
Three characteristics separate the top of the table from the bottom, and none of them is range.
Constrained supply and disciplined new pricing. The Mini Cooper Electric SE tops the sub-£30,000 group at 61.8% partly because BMW has not discounted it into the ground, and partly because it is a desirable object rather than a fleet default. The Volvo EX30 in Twin Motor Performance Plus form is the strongest-retaining electric car What Car? currently forecasts, at almost 64% over 36,000 miles and three years. The Renault Scenic E-Tech at 58.8% and the Volkswagen ID. Buzz at 52.6% both benefit from being distinctive rather than interchangeable.
Heavy new-car discounting is the killer. The two weakest mainstream performers in our table — the Vauxhall Corsa Electric at 29.4% and Mokka Electric at 32.4% — are cars that have been widely available with large manufacturer support on the new side. A used buyer will never pay near list for a car they could have bought new for well below list. The Porsche Taycan Turbo S at 32.5% shows the same effect at the top of the market: a £163,200 list price and a fast-moving model cycle wipe out £110,000 in three years.
Battery warranty transferability. Most UK manufacturers cover the traction battery for eight years or 100,000 miles against capacity falling below about 70%, and that cover normally transfers to the second owner. Models where it clearly transfers, and where the brand has a long reliability record, carry a measurable premium in the trade. Where the battery is leased separately from the car — a structure used on some older EVs — residuals are materially weaker because the buyer inherits a monthly obligation.
One useful sanity check before you buy: a three-year-old EV that is unusually cheap against the rest of its model line is usually cheap for a reason — a very high-mileage fleet history, an accident marker, or a version the market has decided it does not want.
Finance and cover
What it means for PCP balloon payments and GAP cover
Depreciation is not an abstraction if you are on Personal Contract Purchase. The Finance & Leasing Association reports that its members financed over 85% of private new car registrations in 2025, and PCP is the dominant structure. On a PCP the lender sets a Guaranteed Minimum Future Value (the balloon or optional final payment) at the start, and that figure is the lender’s forecast of what the car will be worth at the end. Everything below it is what your monthly payments are actually buying.
Three practical consequences follow, and they run in opposite directions depending on which side of the contract you are on:
- If your GMFV was set before the 2023–25 fall, you are protected. The guarantee is on the lender, not you. If the car is worth less than the balloon at the end, handing it back is a rational choice and you owe nothing further provided the mileage and condition terms are met.
- Equity for a part-exchange deposit is the thing that has vanished. Drivers used to reach the end of a PCP with the car worth several thousand more than the balloon, and roll that into the next deposit. On EVs bought in 2022–23 that equity is frequently zero or negative, which is why so many renewals now need a fresh cash deposit.
- GMFVs set in 2025–26 are notably more conservative than those set in 2021–22 — lenders repriced the risk. That means higher monthly payments on the same car for the same term, and it is one reason a new EV PCP can look expensive against its list price.
Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP) insurance is where depreciation intersects with cover. GAP pays the difference between your motor insurer’s total-loss settlement (market value at the time of the claim) and either the price you paid or the outstanding finance, depending on the type bought. Steep early depreciation is exactly the gap it is designed to close, so it is a product some EV buyers on finance consider.
It is also a product the regulator has scrutinised hard. In February 2024 the Financial Conduct Authority reported that only around 6% of the amount customers paid in GAP premiums was being paid out in claims, and that some firms were passing up to 70% of the premium to intermediaries as commission. Insurers representing around 80% of the GAP market agreed to pause sales, and were permitted to resume from May 2024 after making fair-value changes. If you are weighing GAP, the useful questions are: does your motor policy already include new-car replacement in the first year (many do, making GAP redundant for that period); is your balloon actually above the car’s likely market value; and what does the same cover cost bought standalone rather than in the dealership? This is information, not a recommendation — Car Insurance Expert is an independent research site and is not authorised by the FCA to advise on any insurance or finance product.
Running costs
Depreciation against the rest of the EV cost picture
For a car kept three years, depreciation is almost always the single largest line in the total cost of ownership — larger than fuel or electricity, insurance, servicing and VED combined. A Vauxhall Corsa Electric losing £20,005 over three years costs roughly £6,668 a year in value alone; a Mini Cooper Electric losing £10,080 costs about £3,360 a year. That £3,300-a-year difference dwarfs almost any saving available elsewhere in the budget.
Insurance is a smaller but not trivial line. The Association of British Insurers put the average comprehensive motor premium actually paid at £566 in Q2 2026, up £6 (1%) on the previous quarter; electric models typically sit above that because of higher list prices and repair economics. You can see the national picture in our UK car insurance cost index, the EV-specific picture in our electric car insurance cost guide, and model-level figures for the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Kona Electric and MG ZS EV.
The counter-intuitive conclusion for 2026: the depreciation that hurt 2022 EV buyers is precisely what makes a three-to-five-year-old EV a strong used buy today. Auto Trader had that cohort averaging £19,295 and clearing forecourts in 21 days — someone else has already absorbed the steepest part of the curve.
FAQs
Electric car depreciation: common questions
Typically 38–48% of list price over three years and 36,000 miles, but the real spread across models is much wider. Published What Car? forecasts run from a Vauxhall Corsa Electric retaining just 29.4% of a £28,330 list price to a Mini Cooper Electric SE retaining 61.8% of £26,405. Model choice matters far more than fuel type.
Not as a rule any more. On like-for-like What Car? forecasts a Mini Cooper Electric SE retains 61.8% at three years against 57.3% for the petrol Mini Cooper C. What has replaced the old gap is much greater variation between EV models: the weakest electric performers still lose considerably more than a typical petrol equivalent, while the strongest now beat theirs.
Four things at once: a large first wave of 2021–22 salary-sacrifice and company-car EVs defleeting inside a narrow window; repeated new-car price cuts that repositioned all used stock downwards; private demand lagging fleet supply; and the trade pricing in battery-degradation risk that has largely not materialised. It was a supply-and-pricing shock rather than a verdict on the cars.
They have stabilised and begun to grow, though not back to 2022 levels. Auto Trader’s Retail Price Index recorded the average used EV at £24,662 in June 2026, up 1.6% year on year — the first annual rise since December 2022, ending around 40 months of decline. Three-to-five-year-old EVs rose 8.9% to £19,295 and sold in 21 days.
On current What Car? forecasts the Volvo EX30 in Twin Motor Performance Plus form is the strongest, retaining almost 64% over three years and 36,000 miles. The Mini Cooper Electric SE (61.8%), Renault Scenic E-Tech (58.8%), Audi A6 Avant e-tron Edition One (53.3%) and Volkswagen ID. Buzz Style Pro (52.6%) also perform well. Limited discounting on the new car is the common factor.
Yes, and increasingly explicitly. Most UK manufacturers warrant the traction battery for eight years or 100,000 miles against capacity dropping below roughly 70%, and that cover usually transfers to the next owner — so a car still inside it is worth more. A state-of-health readout is now a normal part of a used EV inspection. Cars with a separately leased battery consistently sell for less because the buyer inherits a monthly payment.
The Guaranteed Minimum Future Value is a guarantee given by the lender, not by you. If the car is worth less than the balloon at the end of the agreement you can hand it back and owe nothing more, provided you have met the mileage and condition terms. What you lose is equity — the surplus above the balloon that used to fund the deposit on the next car. On many 2022–23 EVs that surplus is now zero.
That depends entirely on your circumstances, and we do not make product recommendations. Factually: GAP covers the shortfall between a total-loss settlement and either the price paid or the outstanding finance. The FCA found in February 2024 that only about 6% of GAP premiums were being paid out in claims, with up to 70% going to intermediaries as commission. Insurers covering around 80% of the market paused sales and resumed from May 2024 after fair-value changes. Check first whether your motor policy already includes new-car replacement, and compare standalone pricing against the dealership offer.
Keep exploring
See the full picture of what an EV costs to run in our electric car costs hub, benchmark insurance against the national average in the UK car insurance cost index, and read the EV-specific detail in our electric car insurance cost guide.
Our sources
Sources & editorial
- What Car? — the slowest-depreciating electric cars (forecast resale values at 3 years / 36,000 miles)
- What Car? — the fastest-depreciating electric cars
- Auto Trader — Retail Price Index, June 2026 (used EV average price and days to sale)
- SMMT — used car market Q1 2026 (BEV transactions and market share)
- cap hpi — used car market overview (trade values at the 3-year / 60,000-mile benchmark)
- Financial Conduct Authority — GAP insurance fair value intervention (February 2024)
- Association of British Insurers — Motor Insurance Premium Tracker, Q2 2026
- Finance & Leasing Association — motor finance statistics
Reviewed by the Car Insurance Expert editorial team. Methodology: residual values are published What Car? forecasts for the specific version named, at three years and 36,000 miles; retained percentages are calculated from the list price and forecast resale value in the same source. Market-level pricing is taken from Auto Trader’s Retail Price Index for June 2026 and SMMT’s Q1 2026 used car data. Forecast values are revised as the market moves and are not a guarantee of what any individual car will sell for.
Car Insurance Expert is an independent research site. We are not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, we do not advise on or arrange insurance or credit, and nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy any financial product.
Last updated: 2026-08-06