Sale of used EVs grows 32% in United States

Nio EV charging station

The sale of used electric vehicles in the United States increased by 32 percent in the first quarter of 2023, with prices falling, according to data provider Cox Automotive.

The average retail listing price for used EVs was approximately $43,400, a decrease of 4 percent from the same period last year and significantly lower than the average new EV price of around $59,000.

Cox attributed the drop in used EV prices to aggressive price reductions by Tesla, the EV market leader, for new vehicles.

As Tesla lowers the prices of new EVs, the prices of used vehicles tend to follow suit.

On Thursday, Tesla cut prices in the United States between 2 percent and nearly 6 percent, the fifth such cut this year. The United States will adopt stricter battery sourcing requirements on April 18 that will limit many EV tax credits.

In the first quarter of 2023, Kelley Blue Book estimated that more than 225,000 EVs were sold, accounting for roughly 7 percent of new-vehicle sales.

General Motors announced that it had sold over 20,000 EVs in the first three months of the year in the United States, accounting for about 3.4 percent of its first-quarter U.S. sales.

Congress created a $4,000 tax credit for used EVs in August, with buyers required to purchase a used EV for $25,000 or less from a dealer to qualify.

Cox Automotive predicted that new EV sales in the United States would exceed 1 million units for the first time in 2023, accounting for 5.8 percent of all U.S. sales last year. The group also stated that wholesale values of used EVs increased by 3.7 percent year over year, compared to an overall decline of 2.4 percent.