Abstract
New car sales is the primary metric for measuring electric vehicle (EV) adoption, however, monitoring transition to EVs overall will require knowing more about what is going on in the used car market. While there is limited research on used EV buyers, examining the characteristics and vehicle costs of individuals who currently purchase used vehicles could provide some helpful insights. This research explored the financial impact of a household that typically purchases a used car, choosing a used EV instead. To do this, the study analyzed consumer survey data that tracks households’ expenditure on vehicle purchasing and operations on a national scale to identify why households opt for new versus used vehicles and the consequent cost of vehicle ownership.
