Used EV survey, Fall 2023

We continue our bi-annual used EV surveys with the Fall 2023 edition. Inventory is on the rise, and we have lots of new (or new to my survey) models including the Tesla Model 3, S, the Hyundai Kona, Mazda MX-30 and more. As before the Nissan Leaf leads the inventory charge, with 70 some Leafs looking for a new home. Its never been a better time to buy a used EV, and with global fuel prices on the rise, might be best to get one soon (source) and with it interest in EVs and thus price.

A word on methodology. We use autotrader.ca mostly as its the one I know, it does filters for both electric cars, price, and location. Although you must be careful as sometimes hybrids sneak through the filter. There are many other sites that help people trade used cars, Clutch, Car gurus and Kajiji to name a few, some of those might work better for you. For each model we find, we need at least three entries in order to make the list, mostly as a way to discourage one offs (say a vehicle that has been driven to the ends of the earth and back several times over, or crash damage). We also limit our geographical search to 100 km away from Toronto. As before we set a hard price limit of $35 000 CAD. Mostly as if your budget is higher, it makes a lot of sense to buy new. You get a new shiny shiny, and thanks to incentives the price is not too different. In fact, with an MSRP of $44 592, and a Canadian federal incentive of $5 000, a new 2023 40 kWh Nissan leaf is $39,592 just $4,592 more than our budget limit.

With that lets dive in

There were a couple of Audi E-tron that almost made it, as well as a lone Tesla Model X, and a caddie. But alas, as we require at least three cars, we excluded these from our survey. New in this survey is the Tesla Model 3, as we are starting to see more inventory at the upper end of our price range. Also, I split the Kia soul EV, as it got a significant boost in the 2020 model year, with a much larger-liquid cooled battery (64 kWh vs 30 kWh), as well as CCS charging putting it slightly ahead of the Nissan Leaf plus, a good option if you are in the market for a roomy family EV. As before I dented the battery capacity and range figures for older EVs slightly, mostly Nissan Leaf’s as modest battery degradation is expected.

Its never been a better time to shop for a used EV, 15 models, over 200 EVs looking for a new home. Prices are also lower, and you get a lot more for your money.