Used electric vehicle prices may have turned a corner after recording their first monthly increase in over a year.

Used EV prices increased 0.8% MoM in September; the first monthly increase since August 2022

Auto Trader data for September reveals second-hand EV prices have risen 0.8% at the mid-way point, marking the first monthly increase since August 2022.

The data comes from its Retail Price Index, which also shows that used EV demand is outpacing supply levels for the first time in 14 months.

Its figures reveal that the current average used EV price stands at £32,463 – with the increase in used EV prices fuelled by improving market dynamics as levels of consumer demand outpace supply levels on Auto Trader for the first time since July 2022.

Accordingly, Auto Trader’s Market Health metric for second-hand EVs – which shows the ratio of supply vs demand compared to the previous year – is up 5.4% YoY so far this month, marking the first positive uptick in 14 months.

Auto Trader’s September data shows used EV prices increased MoM for the first time in over a year

But the data also reveals that EV prices are still down 21.4% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis – although the rate of decline seems to be stabilising, easing from 22.6% YoY in August.

Such big falls in average EV prices are also rapidly closing the upfront price gap between many electric models and their ICE counterparts and, in some cases, has already made them cheaper. For example, a three-year-old petrol Renault Clio currently costs £13,163, whilst its electric counterpart, a three-year-old Renault Zoe, currently costs £12,550.

There are similar examples at the other end of the market, with the fully electric three-year-old Jaguar I-Pace (£30,757) costing almost £4,000 less than a three-year-old fossil-fuelled Jaguar F-Pace (£34,589).

Richard Walker, Auto Trader’s data and insight director, said: “Although it’s still early days, it’s positive to see that after more than a year of contraction, the market is beginning to see green shoots emerge in used EV pricing.

“With the continued ‘de-fleeting’ of circa 750,000 electric vehicles sold over the last three years it’ll be some time before the market reaches maturity, but with clear signs of prices beginning to stabilise, the industry should have more confidence in the profitability of second-hand electric cars.”

In terms of traditionally fuelled cars, petrol values have also grown slightly this month, increasing 0.1% month-on-month, whilst diesel prices are down 0.7%. On an annual basis however, both petrol and diesel prices have recorded growth, increasing 3.4% and 2.4% YoY respectively.