During the 2013–2015 time period, 5 out of the 10 best-selling used cars were electrified in some way — “best-selling” in this case refers to the speed at which units moved once on the dealers’ lots. This is according to figures recently released by iSeeCars.
That means that all-electrics (EVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and non-plug-in hybrids, made up half of the fastest-moving used car models of the time period. In particular, the Tesla Model S, the Nissan LEAF, and the Toyota Prius PHEV sold very fast once on the sales lot, according to iSeeCars.
Autoblog notes in its coverage that the “national average for a used 2013–2015 car that was listed on iSeeCars in the first half of 2016 was 42.4 days.” This compares to an average for electrified vehicles (EVs, PHEVs, non-plug-in hybrids) of 29.2 days. These figures relate to a pool of 2.2 million vehicle listings.
Continuing: “The three best-selling electric vehicles found on iSeeCars were the Tesla Model S (26.1 days), the Nissan Leaf (24.3 days), and the Toyota Prius Plug-In (19.7 days). These numbers should not really be a surprise. Almost all used cars are a deal, financially, compared to new ones. With EVs, there’s the issue that you can’t get the federal tax credit a second time, which can lower demand from some buyers, something that then pushes the price down. Other buyers might listen to Consumer Reports, which warns against used EVs. All that said, there are still a lot of people who (apparently) want to snag a low-cost electrified vehicle for themselves. As we’ve pointed out before, a used Nissan Leaf can be a raging good deal these days. Why pass that up?”
Personally, I’ve got no arguments there — used Nissan LEAFs can often be found nowadays at very competitive prices. While range is perhaps still a limiting factor for some, give it a decade or so and used Nissan LEAFs (and probably other used EVs as well) with respectable ranges will likely be available to those on a tight budget.
A bit surprised to see no reference to the Volt. Haven’t been in the US this year but weren’t there some real bargains on offer?
I recently bought a used 2015 Nissan LEAF. I found it to be so awesome I wanted to invest more seriously and have moved to “upgrade” to a 2016 Tekna (UK) used LEAF with a 30kw battery pack.
There are no subsidies where I live. We have a conservative government who functionally deny climate (policy of “adaptation” and little else) change while paying lip service to it to keep onside with the Obama Administration in the US.
So to get a good deal on EVs we need to import ‘used’ ones from countries with EV subsidies. In many cases this means the car was bought, parked for 6 months (qualifying for the subsidy) then exported – with the sales tax claimed back, too.
I can’t complain….there is one more EV in the world not producing emissions……
It is unfortunate to see so much use the “electrified” moniker. It is a nearly meaningless term. Including hybrids that don’t even have a plug is especially damaging. These cars are “power hybrids”, NOT energy hybrids – they still derive 100% of their energy from fossil fuels and merely utilize a hybrid powertrain. This has some of the performance benefits of electric propulsion, but almost none of the environmental benefits. Plugin hybrids are problematic too since their actual environmental benefits range from very substantial (say, a Volt for someone of typical daily mileage and ability to charge at home or work) to NEGATIVE (a plugin bought because incentives made it have a lower sticker price that isn’t actually plugged in). Plenty of plugins are parallel hybrids that offer lousy performance and range in all-electric mode, and therefore likely will be used almost only in hybrid mode. A BMW X5 or Volvo XC90 isn’t an environmentally friendly car however you use it, and considering that you get less than 30% of the performance and only a few miles of range in all-electric mode, will likely perform very similarly to their non-plugin brethren. A further problem with these tiny-battery cars is that their batteries will be cycled very frequently and thus lose capacity at an accelerating rate (if they are being plugged-in). The cars will be on the road for twenty years, but will hardly be worth the trouble plugging in after five years. So as the electricity becomes greener these cars will rely less and less on it.
I wish EV sites, who presumably take a stand and support EVs for their environmental benefits, would stop contributing to the public confusion about this by distinguishing clearly between the different technologies. Electrified cars is a concept that instead conflates radically different things, helping no one.