Demand for second-hand electric cars is increasing

In April, there were 27 percent more searches for a second-hand electric car on the Gaspead and AutoTrack websites than in the previous month. That is striking, in March the number of searches for EVs was even at the last point since October 2021. Particularly in the last weeks of April, interested parties searched the car sales sites more often for an electric used car. In all of April, EVs were hunted in 8.3 percent of all searches, up from 11.3 percent in the last week of April.

Why the greater interest in a second-hand EV? According to Gas Pedal and AutoTrack, this is most likely related to the news about higher petrol prices from July 1 this year. After all, in mid-April attention was paid to the fact that the temporary discount on fuel excise duties will partly disappear as of 1 July, with the result that fuels such as petrol and diesel will rise again considerably in price. As of January 1, 2024, the prices of car fuels will rise again.

Incidentally, not only is there more interest in electric cars on Gaspedal and AutoTrack, the number of searches for used hybrid models and even for cars with a fuel cell on board also increased in April. The share of hydrogen searches is still quite negligible at 0.28 percent. The ‘share hybrid’ certainly isn’t. In more than 23 percent of the searches, it concerns a hybrid. The part of the SEPP subsidy pot that is intended to boost the sale of used cars is now emptying faster than the part that is intended for the launch of a new EV.