Electric cars lose value faster than you think — that’s just the reality of buying an EV these days. If you are the one buying it new, you are exposing yourself to a very steep depreciation curve. Recharged aggregated the results of a few studies on how quickly EVs lose value, and the data suggests that the average EV drops 59% in value after five years. 

Compare that to an ICE car, whose average five-year depreciation sits at 40–50%, and the difference becomes hard to ignore. However, some EVs lose value even quicker than that — so much so that buying them new can feel like throwing money into the wind. If the EV in question is also a luxury model that costs upwards of $100,000, it basically means you’ll lose more than $50,000 in the first five years of ownership. 

You can, of course, claw back some of those losses through incentives, tax credits, and other money-saving methods. To know what you can save, though, you first need to know what you could lose. Here are five EVs that depreciate over 60% in five years, and what that means for your bank account.

The Audi e-tron GT is the sister car to the Porsche Taycan, with which it shares many of its parts. However, one thing the Audi does not share with the Porsche is its depreciation rate, which iSeeCars puts at an eye-watering 72.3% after five years. The Taycan’s five-year loss, for context, is estimated to be 59.2%. Although almost no one will argue that the Taycan is a sound financial decision, the e-tron GT is in a completely different universe.

CarEdge’s numbers are better, if not necessarily good; it has the e-tron GT’s five-year depreciation rate at 60%, while Recharged puts it at 70%. There are several reasons why the Audi e-tron GT’s value tanks so significantly. Firstly, it is fairly standard for a six-figure luxury vehicle to lose value quickly; that’s not unique to the Audi. However, there are also aggressive inventory discounts, rapid advancements in EV technology, and the simple fact that not many drivers are yet ready to make the switch to electrons to consider. The e-tron GT is also a four-door, low-slung performance coupe, a market that has been on a consistent downward spiral for many years now. 

Looking at it that way, it makes a certain kind of sense why it loses that much value. 72.3% is a big number, but what’s even worse for Audi is that other EVs, like the Q8 e-tron, are experiencing similar losses. It’s not limited to EVs, though; a couple of gas-powered Audis were also among the worst-depreciating cars of 2025.

Jaguar is in a bit of a pickle right now, as it moves away from gas engines into an EV-only future. This is particularly worrying from a value standpoint, since the Jaguar I-Pace is basically one of the worst EVs you can buy in terms of five-year depreciation. Not only does the I-Pace depreciate significantly after five years — 72.2% according to Recharged, and 70.7% according to CarEdge – but it’s also considered to have the worst resale value on the market in general.

The I-Pace represents Jaguar’s first mass-produced EV, meaning it is a luxurious car with a relatively high MSRP — prices north of $75,000 were likely the norm. All luxury cars lose value, and it is just that the average losses are higher in total numbers than a car that costs half that price. On top of that, the Jaguar brand has gone through a rough patch with a controversial rebrand, and concerns about the company’s future may further harm long-term value.

Because Jaguar has been on a production hiatus since 2024 or so, buyers may also be wondering about the availability of spare parts and whether the company is actually doing that well. Regardless of what is going on behind the scenes, a 72.2% depreciation rate after five years is nothing short of catastrophic.

The Tesla Model S is the brand’s flagship sedan, available with all the bells and whistles the company could offer. The Model S is one of a few notable EVs being discontinued in 2026, meaning that finding a brand-new one will become more difficult by the day. Still, if you needed a reason not to scour dealers for one, here it goes. According to CarEdge, a five-year-old Model S driven 13,500 miles per year is set to lose 69% of its original value.

According to iSeeCars‘ 2026 overview of resale values, the Tesla Model S’s five-year depreciation stands at 62%. The reasoning is similar to that of the Audi e-tron GT: the Model S is a mid-size electric sedan, and for 2026, its starting price is north of $100,000. This puts it firmly into the luxury EV sedan category, a category known for rapid loss of value. 

Moreover, Tesla also has a habit of dropping prices, and whenever a new car is discounted, it drags the whole used market down with it. Lastly, sedans are not driving the current car market the way they once did. Buyers are increasingly more inclined towards SUVs and crossovers, which also affects resale demand.

Severe depreciation is not just an issue that plagues the luxury EV market. The Nissan Leaf, one of the most affordable EVs you can get, also belongs in this club. ISeeCars believes the Nissan LEAF loses 62.9% of its value after five years, while CarEdge reports a five-year depreciation rate of 66%. To add further context, Recharged puts the LEAF’s five-year value loss at 64% of its original price.

Now, the Nissan Leaf starts at under $30,000, meaning you can easily buy three of them for the price of one low-trim Tesla Model S Plaid. From a pure dollar-for-dollar standpoint, the Leaf’s depreciation is not nearly as severe as luxury EVs like the Audi e-tron GT or Jaguar I-Pace. Some of the reasons the Leaf loses as much as it does come down to technology, relatively poor range estimates, limited charging speeds, and price cuts.

However, our review of the all-new 2026 Nissan Leaf found that it fixes many of the problems plaguing the previous model — some of which were the very reasons it lost so much value. Only time will tell whether Nissan’s updates have done enough to curb depreciation on the 2026 Leaf.

While electric sedans suffer the brunt of depreciation, EV SUVs are not immune to it either. The Model X, Tesla’s higher-end SUV, is also firmly in the 60%-plus depreciation club. ISeeCars believes the Model X loses 61.1% of its value after five years, while CarEdge estimates suggest a 67% drop.

Recharged is a bit more conservative with its estimates, putting the Model X at a 57% drop from its original value lost after five years. The fact that these three estimates are nearly 10% apart illustrates just how market-dependent depreciation can be. Many factors, such as where the car was bought, how it was maintained, and how many miles it has on the clock, all affect the overall depreciation rate. Still, high depreciation makes sense given that the Model X has been on the market for a few years now and thus lags behind newer models.

EV technology moves quickly, and newer EVs can offer better range and faster charging speeds than older ones. This invariably affects the second-hand values of the Model X and other older EVs. Lastly, some experts believe you should stay away from the Tesla Model X due to reliability issues, a situation that’s not going to improve given that Tesla discontinued it in 2026. This, of course, doesn’t help it hold its value.