SerpApi.Org
The age of the EV was supposed to be winding down. Only 5% of new car sales in the first half of the year were EVs, and the leading theory is that this reflects the $7,500 EV tax credit expiring on September 30.
But over the last three months, a new factor may be offsetting the loss of that credit. Gas prices spiked to nearly $5 amid the Iran war, briefly dropped back below $4, then climbed above $4 again as hostilities resumed. With prices swinging like this, many Americans have kept running the numbers on their transportation costs. Whether an EV comes out ahead of a gas-powered car depends on several factors, including local gas prices, an EV’s range, and the availability of public charging stations.
One other key factor is the price of the EV itself. As of last September, Kelley Blue Book reported that the average transaction price for a new electric vehicle in August was an estimated $57,245, up 3% from July and down 0.1% from a year earlier. By comparison, the average transaction price for all new cars was $49,077, up 2.6% from July.
As gas prices have risen, the used EV market has heated up, giving buyers a way to get an EV without paying new-car premiums. That trend held again last month: according to iSeeCars, used car prices overall fell 1.3% year over year in June, while used EV prices rose 7.4% by the same measure. iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer noted that someone who put off buying a used EV this spring may now be facing a noticeably steeper price, even though the broader used car market has stayed flat or declined.
iSeeCars based its analysis on transactions for 1.8 million used vehicles between one and five years old.
The rise in used Tesla prices has been especially pronounced. Tesla still holds more than 50% of the new EV market in the US, and many of its competitors — Ford among them — have exited the market entirely.
The Model X led the surge, with prices up 17.5% in June to an average of $60,950. The Model 3 rose 13.5% to $28,520, the Model S climbed 13.1% to $52,787, and the Model Y increased 12.0% to $32,916.
Climatecrisis247 examined the 20 used cars with the fastest-growing prices in June, year over year. Five are EVs — the three Teslas above plus the Porsche Taycan — and one, the Lexus ES 300h, is a hybrid.
