What happened to the used EV market?

Last fall, I wrote a short market survey looking at inexpensive electric cars. Back in November 2021, a EV shopper in the Toronto area could have had their choice of gently used Nissan Leaf’s, Hyundai Ioniq, or a Kia Soul for less than $30 000. While there is still some selection, the market is tight. For example, the 2018 Nissan Leaf barely meets my criteria with the cheapest now listed for $32 000, quite a jump from the $25 000 6 months ago.

Methodology: As before, we use autotrader.ca to search for electric cars within a 100 km of Toronto,ON. While there are many platforms for finding used cars nowadays, autotrader is one of the few that allows you to specifically search for electric cars. We needed to see at least three EV’s in that category. The goal here is to find modestly priced EV’s, we set a limit of $35 000, as before at that budget you could actually buy a new base version Nissan Leaf (MSRP – 5k federal incentive is $32 798 (source), granted new inventory is extremely limited these days with only 7 new Nissan Leaf’s available in all of Canada, mostly in BC.

As you can see from the table above, selection was much more limited, with only 11 EV’s available for sale that met our criteria. As before, there were no Tesla’s that meet my criteria of a $35 000 minimum price, the cheapest being a 2014 Tesla Model S with 200 000 km on it, at $40 000. I suspect that will change as older Tesla’s start hitting the used car market in a few more years. A single 2019 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car showed up on my search, as it was only a single car, it did not make my table (a minimum of three is required), but if you have $29 000, this unique vehicle could become yours. Do note that it is not an EV, and as far as I can tell, there are very few hydrogen fueling stations around, but a curious vehicle nevertheless. A pair of Mitsubishi MiEV’s, and a pair of first generation Nissan Leafs did appear on my search, but again as three are required, neither made my table. But some are out there, and these two make excellent budget cars.

Do note that fast charging in all of these used EV’s is optional. As discussed in a previous post, level 3 fast charging can double your daily driving distance, a huge difference on a road trip. If you are shopping for a used EV, be sure to select one that offers L3 fast charging.

Inventory is for sure tighter, perhaps attributed to chip shortages, inflation and other pressures on car manufacturers. Some suggest you wait, and truth be told, there is some merit in that suggestion. There are also non-traditional ways of buying a car, for example looking at owners forum for say the Nissan Leaf, or local EV advocacy groups to connect with EV owners who are looking to sell their EV.