Those who buy an electric car privately are now more likely to choose used cars than new ones - and this is not only due to the prices.

The boom in electric cars in recent years is having an impact on the used car market. Transfers of ownership of fully electric vehicles (BEVs) in the first quarter were 50,423, nearly 61 percent higher than a year ago. Private individuals are now buying significantly more used electric vehicles than new ones, according to an analysis by market observer DAT. And these numbers could at least rise somewhat.

Specifically, DAT compares the 50,000 or so transfers of ownership, which normally go almost entirely to private individuals, with 34,433 new registrations of BEVs to private individuals in the first quarter. For a long time, the share of private buyers in the market for new electric vehicles was unusually high; now it is less than a third – similar to the share for combustion engines.

There are several reasons why private customers are increasingly turning to used electric vehicles. A key one is likely the increased supply. "The supply of used electric cars has increased significantly over the past five years: While around 11,825 used electric vehicles were listed on Mobile.de in March 2020, this number had already risen to 85,422 by March 2025," says a spokesperson for Germany's largest used car exchange. Even now, an increase compared to the previous year is still evident.

Martin Weiss, head of vehicle valuation at DAT, also sees the supply as a driver: More and more vehicles are coming from new car leasing "back to the local used car market. And these vehicles also have to be marketed by dealers, especially here in Germany. Therefore, the numbers will continue to rise. Moderately, but they will continue to rise."

Added to this is the comparatively low price, as the so-called residual values ​​of BEVs are currently much lower than those of combustion engines. A typical three-year-old BEV costs an average of 51.5 percent of the original list price. For diesels, the figure is 62.7 percent, and for gasoline vehicles, even 64 percent. As a result, used electric vehicles are now roughly the same price as comparable combustion engines, even though they were significantly more expensive when new.

Price is "very important, as it is generally for used car buyers, but it's not the most important factor," says DAT expert Weiss. He also doesn't expect any further significant price declines for used electric vehicles, "since the vehicles now coming onto the used car market are already much more advanced in terms of technology than they were a few years ago."

Nevertheless, electric cars still occupy a small niche in the used car market, and a rapid, major breakthrough is not in sight. Currently, there are still too few older BEVs in the vehicle fleet, says Weiss. "The market for used BEVs will therefore remain rather small in the coming years." Electric vehicles are particularly lacking among older used cars – simply because eight or ten years ago, hardly any new electric vehicles were sold. This is also evident on Mobile.de. The average used electric car offered there was only about 28.5 months old in March. While that was a good four months more than a year earlier, the age for combustion engines was 69.4 months.