According to a study by the NGO T&E, users of electric cars pay too much for their leasing contracts.
In its new study, the NGO Transport & Environment looked at the prices charged by leasing companies with electric cars. After anonymously canvassing several large companies, which primarily target businesses, T&E found that “the monthly rent charged for a long-term rental is on average 56% higher for an electric vehicle than for its thermal equivalent” . With a Peugeot 208, the electric is on average 547 € per month, against 355 € for gasoline.
Admittedly, this will hardly surprise you, it is common knowledge that the electric car remains more expensive than the thermal to purchase, then catching up with use. But according to the T&E study, “the prices are far too high compared to the reality of the market”. The NGO believes that leasing companies “do not take into account recent changes in the resale price of electric vehicles on the second-hand market”.
This data is the main variable used by leasing companies to set their prices. The higher the resale value, the lower the rent should be. To advance this, T&E analyzed almost three million used vehicle prices in the five main European markets, including France, between the beginning of 2017 and mid-2022. His observation is clear: the resale price of electric cars has progressed well, approaching that of thermal cars.
Read also
This NGO that wants the skin of rechargeable hybrids
According to the study, in France, a leasing company that resold a 3-year-old electric car in 2017 could expect to recover 37.3% of the initial purchase price. In 2022, in the same case, it recovered 43.4% of the purchase price. Resale values have also increased for thermal, but to a lesser extent (46.6% in 2017, 49.8% in 2022). T&E emphasizes that this development is therefore not reflected in leasing offers.
For Léo Larivière, Head of Fleet Electrification Advocacy at T&E France: “ Leasing companies today adopt too conservative assumptions in setting their prices. Their offers reflect the state of the market 5 years ago, when there were uncertainties about the attractiveness of second-hand electric vehicles”. Electrics would therefore be overcharged, which does not facilitate the transition to electric.
The NGO recalls that “leasing companies are discreet giants of the automobile market”. They put more than one in five vehicles into circulation each year. Moreover, these companies are “often owned by banks and car manufacturers, such as Renault (RCI Bank), BNP Paribas (Arval) and Société Générale (ALD Automotive and Leaseplan)”.
T&E also points the finger at the fact that these companies often do not have real ambitions in terms of electric vehicles, even lacking transparency on the share of electric vehicles in fleet renewal. However, the NGO notes a significant gap between companies and households: “In 2022 in France, 7.5% of new registrations in the leasing sector were electric vehicles, compared to more than double (18.5%) for private households”.
However, the fleet of used vehicles is done a lot via these companies. Cars bought today by leasing companies will be resold in three or four years and will determine the second-hand supply for less well-off households. These could therefore run out of electricity if the leasing companies do not sell more. Which is complicated if these do not lower prices on the side of companies, which therefore remain focused on thermal and hybrid.
