- The used EV market is getting weird.
- Like its 2021 again, used car prices are rising.
- Gas prices and higher demand are making cheap EVs an appreciating asset, according to a new report.
It’s common wisdom that a car starts shedding value the second its tires leave the dealer’s lot. That’s especially true for electric vehicles, which have seen brutal depreciation in recent years thanks to a whole host of factors—tax incentives, price wars, rapid tech improvements, and concerns around battery longevity among them.
This is why it’s so weird to see that used EVs have actually been gaining value lately. According to a new report from Recurrent, which evaluates vehicle battery health and tacks the used EV market, secondhand EV prices are up 5.1% since January. Vehicles under $20,000 have seen the biggest increase, up 9.4% from January through June.
“For years, the knock on EVs was depreciation risk: buy one and watch it lose value faster than a comparable gas car,” Recurrent wrote in the report. “New EVs still do depreciate quickly. But that narrative is not accurate if you’re buying a used EV. Used EVs are holding value, and at the affordable end, gaining it.”
It’s good news and bad news, depending on where you sit in the market. If you own a Chevy Bolt or Tesla Model 3 or what have you, it’s probably nice to see that values aren’t just stabilizing, but increasing. But if you’re someone like me—someone who doesn’t own an EV right now but has been considering it—it’s an unfortunate turn of events.
Just look at how much more expensive some of the highest-volume EVs have gotten. The 2023 Chevy Bolt EV costs $21,204 on average, according to Recurrent, a nearly 20% increase from what it cost at the beginning of the year: $17,718.
2022 Tesla Model 3s are about $3,000 pricier, now costing close to $27,000. The 2023 Ford Mustang Mach-E is up about $4,000, now knocking on the door of $35,000. (Meanwhile, used EVs that cost more than $40,000 continued to decline in value.)
So what’s going on? In part, people may be realizing that used EVs can be an incredible deal. The supply and sales of used EVs have been rising thanks to all the EV leasing that happened over the last few years. And yet, prices are going up and days supply is about in line with used gas cars. Over 128,000 used EVs were sold in Q2, eclipsing the results in Q3 of 2025, when the tax-credit frenzy was still in full effect.
And as the supply has ballooned, gas prices have increased. While they aren’t as high as they were earlier in the spring, they’re still above $4 per gallon. That could be enough to get people—especially the type of budget-conscious buyer who might look at a sub-$20,000 EV—to make the switch. Moreover, Recurrent says, those gas prices are likely pushing people into the used market at large, which is boosting EV demand too.
Turns out I may have missed my chance to get a dirt-cheap Chevy Bolt. But there is a silver lining. As Recurrent notes, the trend could give buyers some peace of mind that their purchase won’t immediately lose tons of value. “For a vehicle category often defined by steep depreciation since 2022, that shift is a sign of a maturing market,” it wrote.
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com