Half of the best-selling 2013-2015 used cars are electric

July 13th, 2016  |  Auto

While gas cars still rule the road thanks to relatively low fuel costs, better established infrastructure and overall better affordability for the consumer, electric cars are starting to make some headway in the used vehicle category.

According to Autoblog, used vehicle sales numbers show that when it comes to late-model used vehicles electrified vehicles tend to sell with half of the 10 best-selling vehicles from 2013-2015 being electric in some way. Note that here best selling refers to how quickly they are sold rather than the amount sold.

The national average time spent on dealer lots for a 2013-2015 car is 42.4 days, but that electric cars (which includes hybrids) only spent an average of 29.2 days on lots. Of the electric vehicles in the data the three best selling were the Tesla Model S (26.1 days), the Nissan Leaf (24.3 days), and the Toyota Prius Plug-In (19.7 days).

The numbers make sense when you factor in the fact that a big reason people pass on electric is that the cars are just more expensive to buy up front. With the lower prices of used cars combined with saved fuel and maintenance costs of electric vehicles, buying a used one can be quite a bargain. While Autoblog acknowledges that Consumer Reports recommends against buying used electric vehicles, they say that a used all-electric vehicle like the Nissan Leaf can be a good buy if your lifestyle can fit the car.