Used EVs offer major monthly savings, but options are limited in provinces that have not supported EV uptake: report

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- There is a healthy market of used electric vehicles at price points appealing to prospective purchasers, but where you live heavily impacts your choices, according to a new Clean Energy Canada analysis of Canada’s used EV landscape.

With gas prices continuing to soar, used EVs offer significant relief: Opting for a used EV instead of a used gas car could Save a typical SUV driver $200 a month in fuel costs alone, one of many key findings highlighted in Recharged and Ready. And as most of the used EVs analyzed in this report were found to be either cheaper or near price parity with an equivalent gas car, EV drivers often Save money the moment they get behind a wheel.

We also found that 60% of potential used car buyers would consider going electric, with most willing to spend between $10,000 and $30,000. Of the listings analyzed in the report, 36% posted prices below $30,000, while a further 24% were listed between $30,000 and $40,000, indicating a range of electric options at desired price points.

However, a huge 92% of the used EV market is located in B.C., Quebec, and Ontario—three provinces that only account for 75% of the country’s population. The highest listings per capita, by far, are in B.C. and Quebec: the two provinces with long histories of supporting EV adoption through rebates and standards, highlighting the importance of new EV policy driving a robust used market.

Of the cars available on the used market today, the vast majority are modern EVs—75% are model years 2022 and newer—delivering longer-range battery technology and all the benefits that come with a newer car.

And yet concerns around batteries are prevalent, with more than 90% of those open to buying an EV feeling at least modest concern. Despite the perception, however, battery replacements in modern EVs are actually very rare (just 0.3% for EVs from 2022 onward) and usually happen under warranty.

What’s more, electric vehicles simply don’t wear out the same way that gas cars do, resulting in lower maintenance and repair bills. Analysis has shown that EV maintenance costs are roughly half that of a gas car.

Put simply, with more and more used EV options now available to many Canadians at desirable price points, switching to a gas-free life has never made more sense.

KEY FACTS

• Opting to drive an electric SUV instead of a gas-powered one would Save around $2,400 per year in fuel costs alone, or $200 a month.
• A quarter (24%) of Canadians are open to buying a used EV (60% of all potential used car buyers).
• We analyzed a snapshot of used EVs listed for sale in June and July 2026 on AutoTrader.ca using a dataset of 3,639 used fully electric cars (priced below $100,000). Just 15% of the cars on the market are model years 2020 and older, largely because new EV adoption picked up in recent years.
• A recent study of 3.6 million breakdowns in Germany found that, among two- to four-year-old cars, gas cars broke down 2.5 times more often than electric ones.
• Most batteries in modern electric cars are covered by an 8-year or 160,000-kilometre warranty.
• A recent study of more than 30,000 EVs found that very few batteries required replacement in modern vehicles. Specifically, while model years 2011 to 2016 saw a replacement rate of 8.5%, model years 2017 to 2021 saw battery replacements in just 2% of vehicles. In vehicles from 2022 onward, this dropped to 0.3%.
  
  

RESOURCES
Report | Recharged and Ready
Upcoming webinar | Recharged and Ready: The case for used EVs (register here)

CONTACT

Keri McNamara
Manager, reports and outreach
778.951.8060