Used EV Sales Surge in US as Depreciation Makes Electric Cars a Bargain

Let’s face it. At the beginning of the EV revolution, electric cars were just too damn expensive. A Tesla Model Y cost $66,000 at one point, as the company leveraged strong demand to increase prices. In 2012, the Chevy Volt cost more than $40,000. Even though it was a decent car with a brilliant powertrain, that was way too much money for most people. The Ford F-150 Lightning could pull a freight train, but many models were priced at $70,000 or more.

The other side of the coin, of course, is depreciation. After getting whacked with high prices at the time of purchase, EV owners often found their electron powered beauties were worth less than half what they paid for them a year later. They were not happy and understandably so.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the electric car future. In the US, Republicans reacted with fury to any and all incentives for EVs or charging infrastructure, because God invented gasoline and any attempt to convert Americans to electric vehicles was heresy.

The F-150 Lightning Is Having A Moment

Now that all those incentives are gone and the depreciation bite has been swallowed, a curious phenomenon is taking place. Prices for used EVs are rising, as people realize they are the ideal solution to sky high fuel costs. Cars that were once too expensive to consider are now a relative bargain as used cars. One prominent example is the Ford F-150 Lighting. With used ones costing half what they did new, they are suddenly in strong demand.

Bloomberg this week reports the battery electric pickup truck from Ford, “has become one of the most coveted cars in America and a glowing ember in the red-hot market for used electric vehicles.”

Jimmy Douglas, CEO of Plug, a wholesale electric vehicle dealer, told Bloomberg, “The surging demand shows that there is plenty of appetite for electric trucks among US drivers, provided the pickups aren’t too expensive. When Ford was selling it brand new, the math was complicated; but used, the Lightning is 50 to 60 percent of the sticker price and that is really a sweet spot. It’s an incredible truck for the money.”

The used F-150 Lightnings are a pretty good deal for those considering a conventional F-150 King Ranch or Premium. Those vehicles are priced between $66,000 and $69,000, and have many of the same features as the Lightning. While the electric truck may not have the same range as a traditional truck, pickups in general are not particularly fuel efficient. Filling up at today’s high gas prices can empty your wallet in a hurry.

Gone In 20 Days

Used F-150 Lightnings are finding new owners in about 20 days — half the time a typical used car sits on a dealer’s lot. Ordinarily, a dealer who takes one in trade would wholesale it to a Ford dealer, but according to Douglas, many of them are keeping the trucks for their own inventory instead. Any vehicle that sells in less then three weeks is sure to gladden a used car manager’s heart.

Chase Norris, a county planner in Colorado, told Bloomberg he traded his gasoline powered F-150 for a used Lightning recently. At $40,000, he considered the vehicle both a major upgrade and a bargain. “It’s better for the environment and it happens to be faster than some Mustangs. And I go camping a lot. If it gets cold at night, I can just plug my electric blanket into the outlet.”

While the Lighting looks pretty much like any other Ford pickup, it does have that enormous frunk up front, and it can power your home during a power outage. Can your F-950 Stupid Duty do that?

Economics Favor EVs

“Used EV demand has shown customers are willing to consider electric when the value proposition is right,” said Kevin Roberts, the director of market intelligence at CarGurus. “This is not climate activism or early technology adopters any longer,” Jimmy Douglas added. “Now, for many Americans, an electric vehicle is the most compelling vehicle they can afford.”

How delicious is it that the so-called president’s war on Iran has made gasoline so expensive that people are turning to electric vehicles instead? Alex Lawrence, the owner of The EV Group, a used electric car dealer with stores in Tennessee and Utah, said “There’s a direct connection between gas prices and EV sales. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. We are seeing a lot of people with gas guzzlers to trade in.”

“We are living in a monthly payment environment, so it doesn’t take that long for people to change their behavior,” Douglas added. “Consumers are looking at the total cost of ownership in a whole new light. And they’re moving fast.” Used electric cars are nearly at price parity with pre-owned gas cars, and they tend to be newer machines with fewer miles. That’s helped make used EVs the fastest selling of any category of car, Bloomberg claims.

Douglas isn’t alarmed by the swoon in new EV sales  He pointed out that thousands of consumers rushed to buy an electric car before federal subsidies expired in September of 2025, which pulled forward demand by six months or more. Now, the US EV market is stabilizing, thanks to new models priced at or below $45,000, according to Stephanie Valdez Streaty of Cox Automotive. She said EV adoption today depends on more affordable cars and trucks, and improvements in charging infrastructure.

“Overall, the skepticism on the EV segment is all but gone,” said Steve Renard, executive manager of Infiniti of Tacoma. “Now, it’s not that difficult to show an EV to a gas customer, That never used to happen.”

Hope For EVs

All this happy talk aside, the latest sales reports in the US show a distressing decline in sales of new EVs. The Ioniq 5, the Chevy Bolt, and electric Cadillacs have all suffered significant declines in sales. The Toyota bZ, however, is bucking that trend, which is surprising but happy news nonetheless,

Is the US out of the EV doldrums yet? The answer is no, but there is hope. Ford plans to introduce an all new battery electric Fathom midsize pickup truck in 2027 and is predicting it will sell 100,000 of them a year. Ford knows how to build vehicles that appeal to truck buyers, so that is hopeful news. For the rest of us, we just need to keep calm and charge on. Better days are coming in the not to distant future.