May used car sales across Europe of BEVs have risen 236% and hybrids by 201% when compared with May 2020 while diesel and petrol have increased by 32% and 36% respectively.

Speed of sale does not match sales
There is no doubt that slowly the used car agenda is starting to turn to low or zero emission used cars, albeit volumes are still very small. However, it is only when you examine the stock turn statistics that make it clear that the speed of sale of BEVs does not match the sales growth.

In May, the stock turn of BEVs was just 4.0x, while hybrids were 5.4x which compares with 7.2x for petrol. By far the most consistent fastest-selling used car for the past couple of years has been diesel, in May alone its stock turn was 7.3x, which is 82.5% faster than the average time for BEVs.

OEMs have an incentive to oversupply the market
When you look across Europe there is a major incentive for OEMs to oversupply the market as each BEV sold new reduces their Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) fines. In 2020 alone it saved OEMs 26,000 Euros per new BEV sold.

This major oversupply is quickly cascading vehicles into the used market although at a pace which is much faster than consumer demand to buy a used BEV. The used BEV market is still at a relatively early stage across all European countries where they are establishing themselves alongside Internal Combustion Engines.

Used BEV prices are high
Used prices of BEVs are one of the major elements which are still holding consumer acceptance back – the majority of BEVs are relatively expensive to buy new and when they enter the used market their price point is much higher than an equivalent petrol or diesel used car.

Consumers are still coming to terms with this issue as well as some reservation about battery life and pre-usage and the quality and spread of the public charging infrastructure.

All these factors are putting price pressures on used BEVs and until such time as prices start to soften then BEV stocking times are likely to remain behind traditional used petrol and diesel cars.

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