Used electric vehicle prices drop in Korea with declining EV appeal

Prices of secondhand electric vehicles are falling in South Korea as drivers are increasingly less enchanted with eco-friendly vehicles due to weak new car prices and charging inconveniences.

According to a Korean used-car trading platform K Car Co., prices of used EVs fell as much as 8.4% in the first seven days of this month. Used EVs’ average sale price fell 2%, deeper than gasoline vehicles’ 1.2% decline and a 0.8% fall each for diesel vehicles and hybrid cars.

The model with the sharpest price drop this month was the Volvo C40 Recharge, which fell 8.4%. It sold at around 49 million won ($37,376), down from 53.5 million won last month.

The price of the used Renault Zoe fell 8.1% while the Peugeot e-DS3 Crossback declined 5.5%. The Mercedes-Benz EQE V295 and the BMW i4 decreased by 4.7% each.

The price of Hyundai Motor Co.’s latest electric sedan IONIQ 6 fell 4.9% to 38.4 million won, indicating a widespread price decrease across both domestic and imported models.

Used electric car prices have seen a weakening trend from the second half of this year, with the pace of price declines accelerating from 0.2% in July to 1.7% in September and 2.0% this month.

WEAK NEW CAR PRICES, WEAK INFRASTRUCTURE

Industry watchers said consumers are turning away from secondhand EVs partly due to weak charging infrastructure.

To drum up demand, automakers are also slashing the prices of new electric cars, which in turn makes used car prices fall further.

According to a tally by CarIsYou Data Research Institute, the number of new electric cars registered last month stood at 15,445 units, down 20.3% from the month prior.

Registrations for gasoline cars and hybrid vehicles increased 3.4% and 65.2%, respectively, over the same period.

Hyundai Motor said it is offering a discount of 4 million won for its IONIQ 5 crossover and IONIQ 6 sedan EVs until the end of this year.

Hyundai’s sister firm Kia Corp. said it plans to unveil low-end EV models with prices starting at 30 million won next year.

Global automakers are also cutting their price tags as demand shows signs of weakening.

Tesla Inc. plans to build a 25,000-euro ($26,838) car at its factory near Berlin as the US EV maker aims for a mass uptake of its cars, Reuters reported on Monday, citing an unidentified source.

“Although electric car market growth appears to be slowing, there is no doubt that the industry will grow in the medium to long term, given the strengthening of environmental regulations and increasing investments in eco-friendly infrastructure across the world,” said an industry official.

Write to Il-Gue Kim at Black0419@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.