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Old 07-20-2015, 11:39 AM   #7 (permalink)
EVmetro
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Join Date: Feb 2015
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Almost any car, gas or electric goes down to 10% of its original value in ten years. Just move the decimal over one place from the original sticker price, and that is what it will likely be worth in ten years. This is a big problem for manufactured EVs, since the cost to replace the battery pack that will be ready to changed after a decade will exceed the value of the car, rendering it totaled. The EV components are worth very little, since most of them are proprietary instead of being universal, so they only fit certain year, make, and models.

This is the argument for owning an EV conversion. An EV conversion is typically done to a car that has already depreciated, but the components tend to be assets with value not related to the car, since they can interchange easily with other conversions. Kinda like buying an expensive aftermarket stereo. If you wreck an inexpensive car with a nice aftermarket stereo, you can remove the amps, speakers, and deck, and install them into your next vehicle or liquidate them. In the case of a converted EV, the value of the motor, controller, charger, bms, cables, instrumentation, and such will probably far exceed the value of the chassis, so they are assets that have a separate value from the chassis. At the end of a decade, those assets won't be worth as much as new ones, but they will be worth far more than a factory EV that has been rendered a total.

I like to think of an EV conversion chassis as a platform for assets, kinda like a desk is a platform for a computer and printer. The value of the desk can be trivial compared to the equipment that you put onto it. I look at factory EVs like I would look at a desk with a computer and printer permanently attached to it. It works great when it is new, but it will be worthless in a decade.
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