Gas Prices Are Soaring. So Is the Demand for Used EVs

Purchase requests are at iDrive1 Motors in Carrollton, Texas, where owner Dink Davis has specialized in used electric vehicles for a decade. Gas prices are nowhere near as high in the Lone Star State as in other parts of the United States, after the war in Iran and the subsequent Strait of Hormuz crisis sent global oil prices soaring in late February. Compare the average of $3.68 per gallon in Texas to the $5.89 in California. But according to AAA, prices have increased by more than a third nationwide since the conflict began. Davis and his three employees – who sell cars that run on batteries, not gasoline – are very, very busy.

“The last three weeks it’s gotten stupid,” Davis said. “We can barely keep up with what’s happening. » On Tuesday, he said, a customer traded in a diesel-guzzling Jeep, which costs more than $100 to fill up, for a used electric vehicle.

Data from Cox Automotive shows that used electric vehicle sales in the United States jumped 12% in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2025, with 93,500 vehicles sold in 2026 so far. It’s still a small part of the overall used vehicle market, but “the trajectory stands out,” Stephanie Valdez Streaty, the company’s director of industry research, said last month.

Edmunds, which tracks buyer searches for electrified vehicles on its website, says consumer interest in the powertrain has increased a few percentage points since the start of the year.

The surge in interest in used electric vehicles comes at a time that is both strange and convenient. Bizarre story: Automakers that sell electric vehicles in the United States continue to refrain from introducing new ones at present, after the federal government reduced support for potential buyers of electric vehicles and the companies that make the vehicles. Honda last month dropped three electric vehicles as well as a long-standing collaboration with Sony to build an entertainment-focused electric and digital sedan. Ford discontinued the F-150 Lightning and canceled its next-generation electric truck last year. Stellantis canceled its own all-electric Dodge Ram last fall. Sales of new electric cars continue to grow in the United States, but not at the level expected at the start of this decade. In short, the electric vibes are a little off.

In the practical section: used electric vehicles are a very good deal at the moment. Although new battery-powered cars are still much more expensive than gas-powered ones (Cox noted an average price gap of $6,500 in January), the gap is narrowing for used cars. The average for electric vehicles used is $34,800, which is a lot, but only $1,300 more than the average for gasoline vehicles.

In the coming months, the price could improve further: Some 200,000 used electric vehicles are expected to stop leasing this year, after U.S. consumers, once lured by generous tax incentives for leased electric vehicles, begin returning them, triple 2024 levels. of the used electricity market, are holding up much better than even industry experts thought.

Cox analysts estimate it would take six months or more of high gasoline prices to really turn consumers’ heads toward electric vehicles. The longer the conflict drags on, the greater the likelihood of lasting damage to Middle East oil installations and continued suffering at the pump.

In Utah, Alex Lawrence, CEO of used electric vehicle company EV Auto, said in mid-March that buyer interest was moving inland from California as gasoline prices continued to rise. “I’m investing even more in my inventory because I bet demand will increase,” he said. Phone calls and comments on his company’s social media channels have increased significantly, he said, but customers are “not coming in droves yet.”

At the end of the month, the trend continued. “Everything is getting busier and busier,” Lawrence said.