Electric cars Could leasing a used EV help you afford one?

With more secondhand cars available and salary sacrifice schemes offering extra savings, the lease option is taking off, says Jasper Jolly

- Jasper Jolly

When Anthony Santos was looking for a car to replace his Audi Q3, a diesel SUV, he felt reluctant about making the switch to an electric car.

"I was considering it, but I probably wouldn't have," says Santos, a sales manager at RWinvest, a property investment company. But when he started looking at his options the ability to lease a used electric vehicle (EV) caught his eye.

A couple of years ago someone looking for their next car would have been hard pushed to find a used EV - let alone lease one - but that is changing fast. There are now 1m EVs on British roads, and the cars bought by early adopters are hitting the secondhand market.

Generally speaking EVs have lost value more quickly than petrol or diesel cars, which is a big problem for the owners of leasing companies, rental businesses or corporate fleets. But the flipside for consumers is that it is possible to find a cheap leasing deal.

In the second quarter of 2025, the number of used car leases in the UK rose by 166%, compared with the same period a year ago, with electric cars driving the growth, according to the latest data available from the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), a lobby group.

"Three years ago used EV leasing was very small because there were very few used EVs on the market," says Thom Groot, the chief executive of the Electric Car Scheme, a broker. From about 15% of sales in 2024, used EVs now make up nearly half its business.

At Octopus EV, which is part of the UK's largest energy supplier, the number of used EV leases has doubled in the last year.

The picture is helped by fact that big players in the leasing market, including Lloyds Banking Group's Lex Autolease, BNP Paribas's Arval, and the independent group Zenith, offer leases on used EVs.