What's all this about solid state batteries in the MG4?

[Jonperry64]

I've read a few articles and posts suggesting that the MG4, or at least one of the MG models, will at some point soon be equipped with a semi-solid state battery. Some are suggesting that this explains the current heavy discounts on new MG4s and that depreciation will be very heavy when the new battery technology is introduced.
I'm about to buy a new MG4. I was thinking a cash purchase might be best value, but would a finance option help to guard against this impending depreciation? If so, how does it mitigate depreciation? I don't really understand PCP etc.
Cheers

 

[Bam Bam]

I've read a few articles and posts suggesting that the MG4, or at least one of the MG models, will at some point soon be equipped with a semi-solid state battery. Some are suggesting that this explains the current heavy discounts on new mg4s and that depreciation will be very heavy when the new battery technology is introduced.
I'm about to buy a new mg4. I was thinking a cash purchase might be best value, but would a finance option help to guard against this impending depreciation? If so, how does it mitigate depreciation? I don't really understand pcp etc.
Cheers

Last I heard the solid state is more likely to go in an upcoming new upmarket saloon.

The existing batteries work fine so the car will be as it is - if it works for your purposes then it will do so for its life.

New cars are going to depreciate and a PCP deal still means paying for the depreciation on the car as far as I can tell.

Getting an ex-demo or pre-registered car with cash means the dealer will have taken the initial hit on the depreciation. Not many people can afford the upfront cost.

We found an ex-demo in our desired colour at a relatively local garage so it was an easy one for us. Though looking on Autotrader some dealers are advertised a brand new one for less than we paid for a used one! I see what you mean about the bargains out there. Hard to argue with those prices!

 

[Jonperry64]

That's helpful. Thanks

 

[IanMK]

I've read a few articles and posts suggesting that the MG4, or at least one of the MG models, will at some point soon be equipped with a semi-solid state battery. Some are suggesting that this explains the current heavy discounts on new mg4s and that depreciation will be very heavy when the new battery technology is introduced.
I'm about to buy a new mg4. I was thinking a cash purchase might be best value, but would a finance option help to guard against this impending depreciation? If so, how does it mitigate depreciation? I don't really understand pcp etc.
Cheers

The thing with PCP is that you're guaranteed the car will have a specific value at the end of the 3 year term (or whatever period you chose). If you can sell it for more than that at the end of the term them you can buy at the specified price and sell at a profit. Altenatively, you can often fold that profit back into another PCP agreement on your next car. If depreciation is particularly bad you can just hand the car back and walk away. When I paid cash for my Trophy two years ago there were PCP offers around the £300pcm mark. As it is, if I were to trade in now it will have cost me around £20k over two years. Sad but true

 

[Jonperry64]

Ok. I get the depreciation "protection" argument now. I guess cash wins if hold on to the car for 10 years? How come you would be down £20k? Does that mean your two year old trophy is only worth about £12k?

 

[ReintjeWA]

It’s hard to accurately predict depreciation though, someone might t-bone you and the car gets marked as a financial write off, or perhaps the car sits in a protective bubble all its life and even smells like factory twenty years from now.

I think buying something just to worry about selling it is in itself a mistake, buy the car that suits your needs, and then enjoy it like you own it, because you do. Whatever happens, no car will be worth what you paid for it 5, 7, 12 years from now.

EV techno is rapidly evolving, it’s a bit like gaming computers. You can’t keep up, no matter how much money you throw at it or how hard you try, so just get what works for you and don’t get caught up in the rat race

 

[stevegus]

There already is “very heavy depreciation”.

My £29,300 when new car is now valued around £16k at 23 months and 17000 miles.

If i had a time machine and knew what i know now i would have waited a few months and bought something a year old

 

[Rolfe]

Well, I couldn't wait because I had a write-off on my hands, so I just decided to buy the MG4 and roll with the flow. Working out pretty good so far.

 

[T1 Terry]

We bought a Demo MG4 51 with 1,000 kms on the clock and 10 mths rego remaining. We paid $3,000 less than the new car price (until they conned the wife into ceramic tinting and paint protection .... for an additional $2,000 ) and I think we will keep the car till the wheels fall off or someone crashes into it.
The depreciation is savage over the first 4 to 5 yrs, then it levels out, if you find a vehicle at a good price that you know will appreciate over time, then you can beat the depreciation trend.

Out of the 15 vehicles we own (yeah, the wife says something similar, but with adjectives that wouldn't be allowed on the forum) the MG4 is the only one that might suffer depreciation .... but only if I was to sell it, the '74 VW Kombi I bought for just under AU$2,000 in '98, would sell tomorrow for $50,000 and with maybe $30 to $40 thousand spent on a restoration, possibly up around the $100,000 mark .... but again, only if I sold ir .... and that isn't ever likely to happen

Even the silver '06 Prius, who would have thought that was an investment rather than a money pit, paid $6,500 for it, after a battery fire due to my own stupidity, the insurance paid me out $10,000 and I got the car back. A $2,000 investment in a new battery has had it on the road again for roughly 3 yrs and is now priced at $13,000 and rising by looking at ads for the same model for sale .....

Buy the car because you want it, not for what it might be worth in 3 yrs time .....

T1 Terry

And just to address the Solid State battery concern, they have been "just around the corner" for so long now, I doubt they will ever be the big thing everyone hypes them up to be.
New battery technology is moving so fast, they will be left in the dust. CATL recently announce a battery that combines Sodium ion cells and LFP cells, to gain the benefits of both chemistries, the high discharge rate of the Sodium ion and the rapid acceptance rate when charging, of the LFP. If someone finds a way to combine Sodium ion and LTO cells, you would have a battery that could deliver 1,000 mile before a 10 min recharge and deliver another 1,000 mile, yet last for 30 plus yrs, but a more sensible battery capacity would see 500miles, 5 min recharge and another 500 miles if you needed it ....... the window for solid state batteries to enter the market has all but closed .....

T1 Terry

 

[Jonperry64]

All great replies thanks. In my 40 odd years of car ownership I've had only 7 cars. I've never paid more than 2k for a car and I've always driven them to the grave. Two VW diesels went to the scrappy with around 300k on the clock. So I've only ever benefited from depreciation in the past. On the motorcycle front I've had two instances of appreciation - the Honda Cub I bought for 700 is mow worth over 2k!
It's different this time because I'm looking at a far bigger investment and far newer tech. I guess it's "payback time" because I know I'll lose loads of money on this one. But, as many of you have pointed out, if it's the car I want I should just go for it. So despite it not making any sense financially I think it's time to make the jump to Leccy. Shame they didn't exist when I was doing a 140 mile a day commute rather than my current low mileage retirement. Mind you, in those days I ran my Tdi on vegetable oil!

 

[ReintjeWA]

All great replies thanks. In my 40 odd years of car ownership I've had only 7 cars. I've never paid more than 2k for a car and I've always driven them to the grave. Two VW diesels went to the scrappy with around 300k on the clock. So I've only ever benefited from depreciation in the past. On the motorcycle front I've had two instances of appreciation - the Honda Cub I bought for 700 is mow worth over 2k!
It's different this time because I'm looking at a far bigger investment and far newer tech. I guess it's "payback time" because I know I'll lose loads of money on this one. But, as many of you have pointed out, if it's the car I want I should just go for it. So despite it not making any sense financially I think it's time to make the jump to Leccy. Shame they didn't exist when I was doing a 140 mile a day commute rather than my current low mileage retirement. Mind you, in those days I ran my Tdi on vegetable oil!

If it’s your retirement car than you’ve deserved it mate, get something for the heart, not the head/wallet

 

[T1 Terry]

Ahhh yes, the commute to work vehicle. When I was working at Favco Favelle on building the hydraulics packs for the big cranes, it was a 250km round trip, every day. An electric car would have been perfect for that job, free recharging each day at work. A lot of the fitter team that worked the long hrs, bought diesel vehicles for their work commute. Nothing to do with fuel economy or supposed long engine life, the cranes all used big CAT diesel engines so there was always an unmetered fuel tank used for fuelling the cranes on the test bed ...... then pumping it back out before it was shipped to China ..... surprising just how much diesel those cranes used while testing

T1 Terry

 

[Corindikev]

I used to work on a simple rule of thumb that a car halved its value every 3 years but it isn't linear as the most depreciation happens in the first year. So a $50,000 car will lose $10k to $15k (in the first year at a normal mileage of say 20,000km (12,500 miles) a year or less & be worth 25k after 3 years, 12.5K after 6 years and 6.25k after 9 years so about 5k after 10 years.

 

[IanMK]

Ok. I get the depreciation "protection" argument now. I guess cash wins if hold on to the car for 10 years? How come you would be down £20k? Does that mean your two year old trophy is only worth about £12k?

Sorry - I misremembered the price I paid. It was £32,500. Since my post I've had my insurance renewal (gasp!) so I've had a quick look at used prices in preparation for my annual trawl through the price comparison sites. I think used prices are a little under £20,000. Allowing a dealer margin, I imagine a trade-in price of around £16,000.

 

[Anon70]

You have to consider where EV development is in comparison to ICE vehicles and expect that even in the short term 5-10 years there are going to be more advances in the drivetrain tech. This would suggest that todays tech will be ZX Spectrum or Sinclair C5 specification in a few years.

If you plan on keeping the car until it falls apart, this is not an issue. If you have fear of missing out (FOMO) on the new tech or you can foresee any lifestyle changes that mean you will want to change the car then you will want to mitigate against any depreciation so you can invest in future developments.

 

[Tuareg]

EVs still have much of the 'tech' from ICEs, 4 wheels, 4 brake disks, 4 calipers, same seats, wipers, steering wheel, driver's seating position, windscreen, up/down electric windows, hatch backs, saloons, outward opening doors etc, etc and none of that will change in the next 10-20 years at least and hasn't changed in decades.

 

[Anon70]

EVs still have much of the 'tech' from ICEs, 4 wheels, 4 brake disks, 4 calipers, same seats, wipers, steering wheel, driver's seating position, windscreen, up/down electric windows, hatch backs, saloons, outward opening doors etc, etc and none of that will change in the next 10-20 years at least and hasn't changed in decades.

This hasn't stopped the EV experiments...

VAG - reverting to drum brakes for the rear wheels (as regen provides brake force)
Tesla - removing all steering column stalks
Steering wheels - becoming yokes or playstation controllers
Cyberster - up and down doors
Seating positions becoming higher and leg support angles changing with under floor batteries

 

[Tuareg]

When we have a central joystick between and forward of the front seats eliminating the lhd/rhd steering wheel nonsense we have today that also replaces the foot pedals (pull back to accelerate/forward to brake/left/right to steer/button to switch to reverse, alternative to brake discs/pads, alternative to crude tyres, fully active suspension without using crude dampers etc only then will we have any true 'advancements' in automotive tech. Until then, it's the same old rehashed stale tech.

 

[T1 Terry]

When we have a central joystick between and forward of the front seats eliminating the lhd/rhd steering wheel nonsense we have today that also replaces the foot pedals (pull back to accelerate/forward to brake/left/right to steer/button to switch to reverse, alternative to brake discs/pads, alternative to crude tyres, fully active suspension without using crude dampers etc only then will we have any true 'advancements' in automotive tech. Until then, it's the same old rehashed stale tech.

Ahhh, but with slight panel shape changes and light arrangements and colours inside and out and ...... what do you mean the same old same old

T1 Terry

 

[Bam Bam]

I want wheels on the roof so I can drive upside down!