Tesla Model S Depreciation

A Tesla Model S will depreciate 57% after 5 years and have a 5 year resale value of $36,495.

The Tesla Model S does remarkably well for an alternative fuel vehicle, as most electrics and plug-in hybrids do terribly when it comes to maintaining their value. If you look at Tesla's depreciation curve, you will see that it loses a lot of value in the first three years, but flattens out significantly in later years. This can be a result of purchasers of new Teslas historically getting significant incentives from the government for buying an electric vehicle - at times as much as $7,500 upon purchase. If you buy one used, however, you don't benefit from those incentives. All things considered, if you want a higher-end electric car, with performance, the Model S is in a class by itself, and is tough to beat.

The chart below shows the expected depreciation for the next 10 years. These results are for vehicles in good condition, averaging 12,000 miles per year. It also assumes a selling price of $83,915 when new. Enter your purchase price, expected ownership period and estimated miles driven annually. Our depreciation calculator will predict an expected resale value for the Tesla Model S.

If you purchase a used Tesla Model S that is 2 years old, then you could save $30,277 compared to buying new, and still have a relatively new model with plenty of useful life remaining. If you plan to keep this vehicle for 3 years then your total cost of depreciation would be $17,143. Try other age and ownership length combinations, or different vehicles to see if you can find depreciation sweetspots where this cost is the lowest. Hint: Try vehicles between 2 and 4 years old, as brand new vehicles depreciate quickly. Also, if this is a recently released model and buying a few years old isn't possible, consider another vehicle, or perhaps wait until more used Model S models become available.