Used EVs Are Now Surprisingly Affordable — But Should I Wait for BYD?
Price of Tesla 3 is surprisingly low
I came upon this article from Jalopnik titled “EVs Are Now The Most Affordable Used Cars”, and I quickly read about it. I have a friend that runs a dealership, and he already told me awhile back that most adopters of EVs have made their purchases, and EVs are now not moving off the lot. He also told me that it’s gotten to a point where Porsche would have to drop their Taycan price by $30-40k CAD in order to move them. This article from Jalopnik re-affirms what my friend’s one sample size told me.
Now what’s interesting is the explanation which Jalopnik details on why used EV price drops more than conventional vehicles, as demand has dwindled due to changes in Trump administation policy and general continued consumers demand for gasoline vehicles. It is kind of funny that I think 5+ years ago, everyone thought EV would take over completely, but it’s slowed to a crawl.
Will pricing change the Supply & Demand curve back towards EV?
My work background is in business, so I see Supply & Demand affecting things all the time. Sometimes the affect is gradual, sometimes it’s immediately, much of the time it requires hitting a triggering point for a massive shift.
What’s happening right now, especially for Canada thought are few things:
1) Very high price of gas since Iran war
2) Cost new vehicles are very high
3) Price of used EV are lower compared to gasoline counterparts
4) Chinese EVs are about to enter the Canadian market
All of this spells competition heating up in EV, and also mean the current used EV price may even go lower as they have to compete with likes of BYD, as potential buyers would compare new BYD pricing to used Tesla 3s as example.
And I did just check used Tesla 3 price on Autotrader as example. Limiting the mileage to maximum 100,000km, the lowest price came back on a 2020 Tesla 3 with 90k km for $17,995 CAD. That’s a really good price! Even a 2021 Tesla Model Y with 46k km was only $24,999 CAD! These are really really good prices, especially compared to gasoline counterparts that are equivalent vehicles
But does that means I will consider buying a used EV?
I recently wrote about how Chinese EV and brands like BYD coming to Canada might make me consider buying EV. The main reason being the cost equation of worrying about battery life (and cost to replace them) is balanced with the overall lower cost of the car to begin with. Technically same is true of used EV, especially if they are later models where hopefully main issue of battery life has improved.
Now I am not a Tesla fan - won’t bother going into it more. So I checked out other used examples: 2023 Toyota bZ4X with 91k km for $24,995 CAD, 2022 BMW 330e with 48k km for $28,880 CAD, 2021 Hyundai Kona Electric with 45k km for $18,888 CAD … these all seem like better prices than some of their gasoline equivalents, and if it can save me money versus cost of gasoline, they do seem like it’s worth checking out
Final thought - but really do need to see BYD and similar brands from China
Despite the lower used car EV prices, I believe most Canadians that are also considering used EV will be also thinking the same thing - if I can wait, let’s see the Chinese offerings given all the different reviews we’ve see online and on social media. And that’s really how supply & demand works, as soon there will be more consumer choices meaning more supply, and in theory in will continue to drive down EV prices. I like it 😊
