Where are Used Electric Vehicles and Who are the Buyers?

Tal, Gil; Lee, Jae Hyun; Chakraborty, Debapriya; Davis, Adam W. · 2021 · ROSA P / National Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST) (UTC)

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Summary

This study addresses a significant gap in transportation research regarding the secondary market for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). While extensive literature exists on first-time PEV adopters, little is known about second and third owners, who are critical for market development, grid impact estimation, and equity analysis. The authors investigate where used PEVs are located and who buys them, motivated by the need to understand if lower-cost used vehicles facilitate technology diffusion to lower-income households and disadvantaged communities. The study also aims to determine if the spatial distribution of used PEVs differs from new ones, particularly regarding the "neighborhood effect," where high local adoption rates drive further uptake. The researchers analyzed vehicle ownership data at the zip-code level, focusing primarily on California, which holds the largest PEV market in the U.S. Data sources included California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records covering 2007–2017, identifying over 62,000 PEV transfers within the state, and national data from the Plug-in Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center comprising over 400,000 sales records. The study employed descriptive analysis to compare socio-demographic characteristics of zip codes with high versus low used PEV shares. Spatial analysis techniques, including correlograms to measure spatial autocorrelation and density mapping, were used to compare the geographic concentration of new versus used PEVs and to identify regional patterns of adoption. The findings reveal that used PEVs are not trickling down to lower-income or disadvantaged communities at a high rate during this phase of market development. Instead, used PEVs remain concentrated in wealthy urban and suburban areas, closely following the spatial distribution of new PEVs. However, used PEVs are slightly less spatially concentrated than new ones; for instance, half of all used PEVs are located in the top 25% of zip codes by density, compared to the top 15% for new PEVs. In areas with low overall PEV adoption, used PEVs constitute a higher share of the local PEV fleet but a negligible share of total vehicles. Socio-demographic analysis indicates that in regions with low PEV penetration, used PEV buyers resemble new PEV buyers in income and age. Conversely, in high-adoption areas, used PEV buyers tend to have lower incomes and ages than new buyers. Spatial autocorrelation analysis showed a weaker neighborhood effect for used PEVs compared to new ones, suggesting their distribution is less driven by local peer influence and more by specific supply locations. The study concludes that the secondary PEV market currently reinforces existing adoption patterns rather than expanding access to underserved populations. The authors attribute this to barriers such as lack of charging infrastructure, housing tenure issues (renters cannot install chargers), and perceived risks of buying used technology. They recommend policies that improve information for used car buyers, reduce purchase risks, and expand charging availability to facilitate the flow of used PEVs to secondary owners. Such interventions could help broaden market growth and ensure that the environmental and economic benefits of electrification reach communities with historically low adoption rates.

Key finding

Used PEVs are slightly less spatially concentrated than new PEVs but remain heavily concentrated in wealthy areas, indicating they are not trickling down to lower-income communities at a high rate.

Methodology

dataset

Sample size: 264603

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

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