Used electric vehicle sales set records in September as new EV purchases fell sharply, a split that reframes the dominant narrative about American consumer appetite for electric cars. The divergence points to price as the main variable rather than any fundamental resistance to the technology.
New EV sales dropped 40.7% against the same month last year, reaching an estimated 86,632 units. Washington removed the $7,500 purchase incentive when it lapsed in late September 2025, and the gap it left behind has not closed. A new electric vehicle now costs around $62,000 on average while hybrids average around $47,600 by comparison. Without a subsidy bridging part of that difference, many buyers have simply walked away from the new market.
September’s used market moved in the opposite direction, with transactions reaching 47,862, up more than a fifth from the same month last year, their highest-ever portion of the used market at 3.3%. Average asking prices fell to $36,767, putting the markup over equivalent gas and hybrid models at just 6.2%. At that margin, electric vehicles compete on their practical merits, and the sales data suggests buyers find them compelling.
No model captures the divergence more cleanly than the Chevrolet Equinox EV. New Equinox EV registrations came in at 1,905 for the quarter, 92% below the prior year, while the used version drew 41.9% more buyers than the month before.
The Nissan Ariya followed the same pattern, falling sharply in the new market while used transactions rose 42.5%. Both are crossovers, which matters: the used market gives buyers an electric vehicle in the body style they actually want, at a price closer to what they have historically paid.
Turnover rates across the used EV segment backed up the demand, with second-hand units clearing in 35 days compared with gas and hybrid inventory that sat on lots for 46 days. Electric vehicles were selling faster than conventional cars, which is not the profile of a category consumers are supposedly avoiding.
Reviewing EV sales data from the full third quarter reveals that new electric vehicle volumes reached 262,649 units, 6.1% above Q2 output but 39.5% below the same period of 2025. That year-on-year reading is measured against the 2025 period of inflated sales as Americans rushed to buy EVs before the federal subsidy elapsed, so the scale of the drop is deceptive.
On the used side, 124,000 units changed hands through retail channels, 11.4% above the prior year, while EVs took a record 4.9% of wholesale auction volume. EV makers, such as Massimo Group (NASDAQ: MAMO), will be analyzing these statistics and coming up with strategies to make their new offerings more attractive to customers concerned about cost.
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