EVs Lost 57% of Their Value — Then Something Reversed

Used electric car prices fell for years. Then they turned — and almost nobody noticed. In 2026 the used EV market did the opposite of what everyone predicted. The off-lease wave arrived exactly as forecast, the lots filled up exactly as forecast, and prices went UP. Used EV prices in the United States jumped about 12%, and the Manheim index showed electric cars outpacing petrol cars for the first time. The reason was not in the car business at all: it was the price at the pump. This video breaks down five years of EV depreciation data, why new-car buyers paid for it, what happened to the flood of lease returns, and what to check before buying a used electric car now — the two documents that decide whether it is a bargain or a repair bill. CHAPTERS 0:00 The setup 0:41 The number that was true 2:07 Three engines 4:03 The flood that was supposed to happen 5:59 What actually happened 7:49 The honest case against me 9:54 So who was right 11:36 What to do now 12:55 The rule SOURCES iSeeCars Depreciation Study (April 2026) — five-year depreciation by powertrain Cox Automotive / Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index (2026) — wholesale EV values CNBC (July 2026) — used EV prices rising amid high fuel prices Edmunds (2026) — average new-car payment, negative equity, transaction prices Kelley Blue Book — manufacturer lease-buyout incentives Torque News (2026) — lease buyout versus market value NIADA (2026) — off-lease EV volume Carplus / Fleet News (UK, 2026) — 40 months of falling used EV prices, then a stop Every figure in this video is sourced. Where data covers a market outside the United States, the country is named in the narration. MUSIC "Half Mystery", "Twisting", "Dream Catcher" — Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Disclosure: some background plates in this video are AI-generated from real prototype photography. No real person is depicted, and no third-party broadcast footage is used. #EV #UsedCars #ElectricVehicles #CarPrices #EVDepreciation