Fleet managers and finance teams have repeatedly asked the same question: what happens to our balance sheet when these vehicles reach defleet?
New market data offers an encouraging answer.
Figures reported by Fleet News, drawing on retail data from Cazana, show that used EV values at the three year defleet benchmark rose 2% in June. That follows a climb of nearly 5% over the previous 90 days.
Demand is strong, too. Core fleet models including the Hyundai Kona, Tesla Model 3 and Volkswagen ID.3 are taking an average of just 15 to 16 days to sell. Diesel values edged up only 0.5% over the same period, while petrol and hybrid pricing stayed broadly flat.
The picture is similar at auction. BCA reported average used values of £7,568 in June, up 4% on May, with EVs continuing to outperform the wider market and three to five year old stock in particularly high demand.
Cazana's automotive expert Derren Martin noted that fleet managers can now defleet ageing EVs with confidence, without the residual value cliffs seen in earlier cycles. In his view, consumer demand for well maintained corporate EVs is currently outstripping supply.
Residual values are not just a remarketing concern. They sit at the heart of the whole life cost calculation that determines whether electrification makes financial sense.
When residual values are volatile, leasing rates climb, contract hire risk increases, and finance teams hesitate. When they stabilise and rise, as they are now, the total cost of ownership case for EVs strengthens considerably. Combined with benefit in kind advantages and lower running costs, the financial argument for fleet electrification is becoming harder to ignore.
This is part of the broader conversation around fleet electrification, and it removes one of the last major objections.
If the vehicles now make financial sense, the focus shifts to whether your operation can support them.
That means looking honestly at your sites. What grid connection capacity do you have? Will load management allow you to charge the fleet you are planning, not just the fleet you have today? Where should chargers go, and how will the installation scale as your electric fleet grows?
These questions decide whether electrification works in practice. A strong business case on paper can still fail operationally if the infrastructure has not been thought through, and retrofitting a poorly planned installation costs far more than getting it right first time.
At EVC Solutions, we take a consultative approach. Before recommending any hardware, we assess your site's load capacity, scalability and any site specific limitations, so the infrastructure you invest in matches the fleet you are actually building.
The market has answered the residual value question. Let us help you answer the infrastructure one.
Call us on 03300 904030 or contact Adrian Cooper directly to arrange a conversation to see whats possible for your fleet.
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