- Used EV prices went down 9% year-over-year in September.
- Searches for used EVs went up 32%.
- Meanwhile, searches for all used cars went down 2%.
Prices of used electric cars in the United States continue to go down, which means more people can afford a battery-powered vehicle. It’s not great news for owners who want to trade up, but the reality is that even new EVs are getting cheaper, albeit by a smaller margin, so sellers need to adapt to the often fluctuating market.
According to a new report from car-selling website Cars.com, the average price of used EVs went down 9% year-over-year in September in the United States. That’s the biggest drop of any vehicle category, with all used vehicles seeing a price decrease of 5%, all new vehicles going down 2% year-over-year and new EV prices decreasing by 3%.
People noticed. So the search volume for used EVs on Cars.com went up a staggering 32% in September compared to the same month last year, while all used-car searches went down by 2%.
Used EV prices increased slightly month-over-month, but they’re still 9% lower than last year.
The Tesla Model Y, the most popular electric car in the world, saw a sharp price decrease on the used market, with the average trade value reaching $28,071 last month, a 20.2% drop compared to last year. It’s also roughly $800 less than the average price of all used cars, which was $28,882 last month. The average price for used EVs was $37,145.
New EV inventory increased by an impressive 50% last month thanks to General Motors’ expanding portfolio, including the Chevrolet Blazer EV, Chevrolet Equinox EV and Cadillac Lyriq. However, not all of these models are exactly hot sellers, with many new EVs sitting on dealer lots longer than the industry average–86 days in September compared to 72 days for all fuel types, Cars.com noted.
That said, things could be worse. Jeep, Ram and Dodge had excess inventory that sat on the lot for an average of 131 days. Chrysler and Mitsubishi complete the top 5 list of the slowest-selling mass-market brands, while Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Jaguar, Lincoln and Mercedes-Benz get the top spots for the slowest-selling luxury brands in September.
Meanwhile, the fastest-selling luxury brands are Lexus, Acura, Audi, BMW and Land Rover, while Toyota, Subaru, Honda, Kia and Mini are the fastest-selling mass-market brands, according to Cars.com, with a lower number of days live.
In electric vehicle land, the fastest-selling new models were the Toyota bZ4X, GMC Hummer EV, Subaru Solterra, Lexus RZ 450e and Genesis Electrified GV70. On the other hand, the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, Rivian R1T, Chevrolet Bolt EV, Rivian R1S and Polestar 2 were the slowest-selling new EVs in the U.S.
