A strange thing is happening in the used EV market. Supply is up thanks to an ever-increasing stream of ex-lease cars reaching the market, and yet prices have been going up as well. As a result of America’s latest war in the Middle East, used EVs have appreciated by just over 5 percent since February. Despite the stronger pricing, used EV sales have been strong this year—up 25 percent year over year by May, although a weaker June has brought overall sales up just over 20 percent year over year, according to the analysts at Cox Automotive.
Used EVs also hang around on dealer lots a lot less than new ones—the same analysts at Cox found just 38 days’ supply of used EVs in June, but 81 days for new EVs. And much of the demand is at the cheaper end of the spectrum, say the analysts at Recurrent. In previous installments of our used EV buyers’ guide, we’ve already looked at the most affordable used EVs, ending last time at $25,000—EVs that may now qualify for a $1,750 rebate if you’re in California. Today we’re looking at used EVs that cost between $25,000 and $30,000, and according to Autotrader’s search, there are more than 9,000 used EVs for sale in that price range.
Broadly, you can split the results into three buckets: Cars where you’ll find plenty to choose from; ones where there might be a couple of hundred for sale nationwide; and then the oddities where there might just be a handful to pick from.
Lots of choice
We are now several years down the road from the debut of several mass-market EVs from mainstream brands, and it’s not surprising that there’s the greatest choice among models that have been strong sellers. Chevrolet is well-represented, with about 750 Blazer EVs and another 550 Equinox EVs available in our price band. The smaller Equinox EV starts new at not that much more, so used ones should be low mileage and well-specced. Neither will have Apple CarPlay nor Android Auto, which is a sticking point for a lot of you out there.
There’s a decent selection of Ford Mustang Mach-Es in this price range, too, with almost 700 to choose from around the country. At this price, you’ll find Mach-Es as recent as model year 2025, but I would be quite tempted by one of the 50 Mach-E GTs I found for sale. These will only be MY23 cars, and they are less efficient than other Mach-E variants, but they also ride much better thanks to magnetorheological dampers.
