Luke Marsden column: I'm trapped with my electric car!

I detailed at great length in this very column back in the autumn of 2022 the long and arduous journey I had of actually getting my electric car. Now, I’m told the car is almost in negative equity due to a substantial drop-off of the used car market. In fact the second-hand car market is now worth 25% less than what it was this time last year, which is great if you’re on the lookout for a second hand Volvo but not so great if you were thinking of exchanging your electric car for another one.

Demand for electric cars has exploded over the last two years which can also account for the saturation of the market when it comes to EVs but I wasn’t expecting the value of my car to be more than halved in 18 months, my friend also wanted to exchange his but in an automobile game of blackjack, we’re now sticking rather than twisting.

If this wasn’t bad enough, the insurance market has done the exact opposite of the used car one, it is soaring and the prices I’ve been quoted for this year are literally eye-watering compared to what I expected and have previously paid. Naturally, there’s an element of bartering with these companies but the robots/AI/humans they employ can actually only do (or believe!) so much.

There are some that when I told them I was getting an electric car, physically recoiled at the thought, they love petrol and think EVs are the devil come to destroy us. What is actually destroying us is the second-hand car market, it is built on the fabric of getting new and used cars in the pipeline but now it appears the pipeline is clogged.

What’s the plan you ask? I’m sticking it out, at least I know when I’m driving around Wigan (and the north-west without needing to stop and charge every 5 mins) I have the smug satisfaction that I may well be stuck with my EV for now but Extinction Rebellion should see the green strip on my reg plate and move out of the way for me- I’d hope!