The time it takes for a used electric vehicle to find a new owner has more than doubled since last year, according to iSeeCar.com’s latest market study, which shows a second-hand EV spent 57.8 days on the market on average in July 2023 before being sold, compared with the 26.4 days in July of last year.
On the bright side of things, however, the average price of used EVs has gone down to $39,156, a 38.9 percent drop compared to last year.
In the fastest-selling 1 to 5-year-old used EVs category, the Tesla Model Y crossover ranks highest, with an average of 47.6 days on the market and an average price of $46,067. The Nissan Leaf is in second place, with 51.3 days on the market and an average price of $20,473, while the Tesla Model 3 – the American EV brand’s most affordable model – is in third place with an average of 51.8 days spent on the market at an average price of $35,039.
As you can see, even though the Model Y is more expensive than the Model 3 on the used market – the same as when buying new – the crossover is still more desirable. With this being said, internal combustion cars are sold at a faster rate than EVs, according to iSeeCars.com, with used ICE vehicles spending 38.9 days on the market on average, a 26 percent increase compared to last year, at an average price of $32,249, down from last year’s $38,839.
“Used car prices were initially driven up by a lack of new car inventory,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “Now there are plenty of new cars on dealer lots, but consumers aren’t rushing out to buy them. The new car average time-to-sale is down by more than 25 percent even as used cars are selling 6.1 percent faster. This shows buyers are continuing to seek value in the used car market – despite a wide range of new car options.”
Gallery: 2021 Tesla Model Y
“The good news for electric vehicle buyers is that EVs are both cheaper and harder to sell in 2023, putting pressure on automakers and dealers to move them in a market that appears to have lost interest,“ added Brauer. “Both new and used EVs are taking more than 50 days to sell on average, meaning it takes more than twice as long for dealers to find EV buyers compared to a year ago.”
To come up with these results, iSeeCars analyzed over 228,000 new and used car sales (1- to 5-year-old used cars) from July 2023. The number of days that each car was listed for sale on iSeeCars.com was aggregated at the model level, and the average days on the market for each was mathematically modeled. Heavy-duty vehicles, models no longer in production before the 2022 model year (for used cars), and low-volume models were excluded from further analysis.
