By a third in the first quarter.
Used electric vehicle sales rose by a third in the first quarter of this year, with average retail prices falling and remaining well below the price of new electric vehicles, even as Americans remain reluctant to adopt electric vehicles.
In the first quarter, sales of electric vehicles through authorized dealerships increased by 32% year over year to 42,753 units, according to a press release from Cox Automotive, a provider of automotive technology, on April 7.
The sale of used electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2023 was twice as large as what was sold in the first quarter of 2021. The average retail list price of used electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 4 percent to $43,400 compared to a year earlier.
It was also well below the average new electric car, which has a price tag of about $59,000.
Cox Automotive attributes the lower average listing price for used electric vehicles to "sharp price cuts" implemented by Tesla.
Since the company is the market leader in the industry, its price cuts are driving down new EV prices, with used EVs also affected.
In January, Tesla announced a price cut of its cars by up to 20 percent. This week, the automaker cut prices by an additional 2 to 6 percent in the United States.
The availability of the product will rise quickly in the future, according to Cox Automotive, and more used electric vehicles on the market are key drivers of volume gains.
Despite rising sales numbers, Americans are still reluctant to adopt an electric car as their mode of transportation of choice.