Electric cars were supposed to age differently. Fewer parts, no oil changes, a battery warranty long enough to outlast a typical loan. The pitch was that residuals would hold once buyers got used to plugging in. Two years later, the used market is treating that promise like a discontinued feature.
The 2024 Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a clean example. It launched as one of the better mass-market EVs: quick charging, a useful cabin, and an original sticker that usually started in the low-to-mid $40,000s and climbed past $50,000 on SEL and Limited trims. Kelley Blue Book already ranks the model in the worst quartile for depreciation among 2024 SUVs, with roughly half the original value gone. Thirty-one thousand miles is not abuse. It is a normal commute, still inside the factory warranty and the battery coverage. On the open market, cars like this are trading as if the odometer and the plug both count against the price.
Amazon Autos has one listed at just over $21,000. Buy it during the coming Prime Days and the deal adds a $1,500 gift card. Net cost lands right at $20,000.
That is the number that finishes the argument. A car many owners paid north of $45,000 for is now a Prime listing with store credit attached. The drop is about $22,000 on Kelley’s figures, near 51 percent, and the Amazon page is not a salvage special or a wreck. It is ordinary inventory, sitting next to ordinary merchandise, priced like a used compact crossover from a prior generation.
The forces behind it are the same ones hitting the rest of the early EV fleet. Hard lease deals and tax credits pulled demand forward, then dumped off-lease cars into a softer market. Later price cuts on new models reset the ceiling for everything already sold. Battery anxiety, earned or imagined, still discounts anything with a charge port. Comparable gas crossovers have not shed half their sticker this fast. The owner who financed near MSRP is often underwater before the first set of tires is done.
None of this makes the Ioniq 5 a bad car to drive. It makes it a bad car to have bought if the plan was to keep the equity. The bargain now belongs to the second owner: someone else’s depreciation, a still-young battery warranty, and a Prime Day net near $20,000. For the original buyer, the Amazon listing is less a shopping tip than a receipt.
Talk about being UNDERWATER!
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