Interest in pre-loved electric vehicles gains momentum in Australia

Following last month’s trend in electric vehicle buying intentions, new data from market analysis firm Roy Morgan shows that the number of Australians considering purchasing a used EV over a new one is also still increasing.

The popularity of electric vehicles both new and used continues to rise, with an additional 200,000 Australians intending to buy a hybrid or electric vehicle next time they buy a car, half of which are looking to pure electric vehicles.

“Over the past twelve months, we have seen a significant increase in the number of Australians looking to drive electric or hybrid vehicles for their next car,” said Michele Levine in a statement regarding the research, which is based on a rolling monthly survey averaging 50,000 interviews with Australian drivers a year.

“These increasing numbers send a clear signal to car manufacturers that Australians are interested in greener technologies,” says Levine.

“The strong growth in popularity of electric and hybrid vehicles suggests that the number of Australians driving these cars will occupy an increasing proportion of the future car industry.”

But the data also indicates that for those wanting to sell an electric car, there may be high demand.

The number of Australians looking to buy a secondhand electric vehicle has almost doubled since this time last year, and is up 60% from last month with 92,000 drivers now looking for a used EV option to buy.

As noted in last month’s article on the data, this is significant for the electric car market in Australia where there are less than 200 used electric vehicles for sale according to the popular Car Sales website, including dealer demos.

Of these, other than first generation Nissan Leafs which have limited range compared to modern longer-range vehicles, the majority are high-priced Tesla Model S, Model X and Jaguar I-Paces – although as we covered recently, the price of a used Model S is now in the vicinity of a new Model 3.

One solution to address the growing need for used EVs on the market is to encourage fleet managers to switch to electric, therefore feeding a second-hand market as cars are turned over more frequently.

This has been a core focus of certain initiatives such as the CEFC Electric Vehicle Drive Day held in July and the Queensland government commitment to double its Qfleet EV sales.