Growing by more than 50% between 2020 and 2021, the used electric car market may seem in great shape. But this growth is a bit misleading since almost new vehicles are abnormally numerous in our ranking made with NGC-Data®.
Between the new market and the second-hand market, there is always a significant gap. The take-off of electric cars is thus still too recent in France to really have an impact on the second-hand market. Last year, among them, this type of engine represented only 56,792 transactions according to NGC-Data® data, which is almost three times less than for customers of new vehicles. An inverted proportion compared to those encountered with all energies combined. This does not prevent the figures from being here also on the rise. The increase reached 51% compared to 2020 and 66% compared to 2020. One could thus believe in a real craze, perhaps triggered by the new used ecological bonus of €1,000 launched in December 2020. But the discovery of the 20 best-selling models leads to seeing things in a different light.
>>> The top 20 best-selling used electric cars <<<
Recent models overrepresented
The first position of the Renault Zoé is not surprising, especially since NGC-Data® does not distinguish between the two generations, which are technically very similar. Until the takeover of the Tesla Model 3 last year, the city car with the Diamond was largely at the head of sales of new electric cars in France. It is therefore widely found in ad sites as well as among professionals, with prices often very low. On the other hand, finding the e-208 in second place and, above all, the Volkswagen ID.3 on the third step of the podium is already much more surprising. The latter was only launched at the end of 2020, and only 5,860 copies were sold new in 2021. The 2,631 registrations on the second-hand market in the same year show that the manufacturer registered “zero kilometer used cars” and demonstration vehicles. Of this total, there are barely 32 transactions between individuals, compared to more than 450 for the Tesla Model 3, which is still ranked only 9and.
Few transactions between individuals
To a lesser extent, the same phenomenon also seems to affect the Fiat 500 and Renault Twingo E-Tech Electric, two other very recent models. By using this technique, manufacturers are boosting their “zero emissions” registrations to reduce their CO2 average2 monitored by the European Union and escape a hefty fine. But private individuals do not yet seem to be very numerous to exchange battery-powered vehicles with each other: in 2021, this type of transaction represented less than 1/6and registrations of electric cars, while it was largely in the majority for diesel or gasoline.
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