16/10/2026
Some thoughts on electric cars
I’m right now on my way to the south of France to collect a Kia hybrid, a car that was seriously undervalued by a Ford dealership, offering an almost fully equipped model for the price of a slightly equipped entry-level version. Anyway, I’m getting lost in the details.
Recently, someone asked me for my opinion on a Volvo plug-in hybrid advertised at 35k+ (I don’t really remember the exact price).
I told her that with the arrival of new Chinese fully electric brands offering interesting driving ranges, I believe the resale value of these vehicles, which came from a market that was still trying to find its direction, will collapse over the next 3–5 years.
China is flooding the market with new electric cars at competitive prices, pushing manufacturers to review their pricing strategies. As a result, the used electric car market will also be affected, with prices going down.
Technology is also evolving very quickly, especially with the integration of AI, not to mention the influence of trends.
And one of the brands that best illustrates this situation is Tesla.
Sales have exploded over the last 10 years, technology has improved significantly from one year to another, and new models and technologies are making previous generations look, at best, “has-been”, or even worse, “obsolete”.
And since many of these cars were sold through leasing, financing or long-term rental agreements with residual values that are now above their actual market value, the situation becomes even more interesting.
Today, a petrol or hybrid car often has a much higher resale value than an electric car bought at the same time for the same amount.
If we combine these three factors (residual values, technological obsolescence) and the inevitable degradation of batteries, especially on the first models that are already 10 years old, we end up with a model that is quite similar to smartphones.
They accumulate, lose their usefulness and create pollution, with one important difference: an electric car cannot be recycled as easily as an iPhone, and large-scale electric vehicle battery recycling facilities are still developing.
People who bought electric cars because they wanted to protect the planet may now find themselves facing a reality that is quite different from what they were promised. The environmental message used to promote electric mobility may have been too simplistic, leaving buyers unaware of some of the long-term economic and environmental consequences.
For the first time, I can clearly and concretely see the comparison that was made years ago between smartphones and electric cars.
I’ve said it many times: electric cars are extremely pleasant to drive, but I remain convinced that the future lies in hybrid engines (non-plug-in).
The efficiency and reliability of these engines are improving considerably. They are becoming much more compact, and yet we were led to believe that a 50 kg fuel tank was more harmful than the 800 kg of batteries carried by some electric cars.
Of course, the environmental impact is more complex than a simple comparison of weight, but I think the question deserves to be raised.
These are just general thoughts.
At the same time, here in Geneva and the Pays de Gex, I think that if 80% of our journeys are local, electric and hybrid cars make perfect sense.
Just one thing: if you want to buy an electric car, buy a used one.
But on a global scale, this is where my doubts remain.
I think we need a new global strategy.
Sometimes I wonder whether it would make more sense to have small, compact electric city cars for local journeys, with batteries that can easily be replaced, while keeping family cars and other larger vehicles as conventional hybrids for the occasional longer trips.
Perhaps we should simply think differently about how we use cars, rather than trying to make every vehicle fully electric.
Oh no, 40min delay on my train🤦🏽♂️
Thanks to SNCF, more time for deep thoughts 😆
Not AI content!
