EV struggle
The second-hand market is reflected
"Charging is inconvenient"
Used electric vehicles (EVs) have begun to hit the market. Analyzing the data on the trading information site, it was found that EVs have a shorter mileage than gasoline-powered vehicles and hybrid vehicles (HVs), and the price drop is larger than that of new vehicles. There is a tendency to give up early due to the inconvenience of having few charging facilities, and the used car market reflects the struggle of EVs.
Average mileage of used reefs,
Only 60% of the Prius
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun collects the data posted on the site of the used car information service "Car Sensor" using the "Scraping" technology that automatically collects specific information on the Internet. We also analyzed the data provided by Recruit, the operator.
The car sensor contains data on about 500,000 used cars. Domestic sales of new EVs were about 20,000 units a year, which was less than 1% of the total, and there were few used cars, but the number of EVs listed on car sensors has increased to more than 1,700 units. In addition to used cars of models from overseas manufacturers such as BMW and Tesla, the overwhelming number of cars listed is the Nissan LEAF, which was first released in December 2010.
The first thing that can be seen in the analysis of specifications such as model year, mileage, and price is that cars with short mileage stand out. When classifying about 1,100 reefs by mileage, the largest number is around 10,000 kilometers, and the average is only 36,000 kilometers.
Toyota Motor's HV "Prius" has the largest number of around 40,000 kilometers, with an average of 57,000 kilometers (both are used cars after 11 years after the release of the Leaf). The average mileage of the Leaf is about 60% of that of the Prius, which is lower than that of Nissan's small car "Note" (41,000 kilometers on average).
Why is the mileage of used EVs so short? When I asked Yasuhiro Nishimura, Editor-in-Chief of Car Sensor, three main reasons came to my mind. The first is early adopters, whose core EV buyers are highly interested in new technologies, and that "the replacement cycle for the next car is short." The second point is that EVs are often used for medium- and short-distance daily use such as shopping, and it is difficult to extend the distance.
I'm worried about the third reason. This is a case where a user who feels that it is not easy to use will give up the EV as soon as possible. According to data from map giant Zenrin, the number of public EV chargers in Japan has peaked at around 30,000 units nationwide. The radix per capita is less than half that of Germany and the United Kingdom.
"Many people start worrying about charging when the battery level drops below 30%. The distance you can ride without stress is shorter than what is stated in the catalog," said Nishimura. It is difficult to use for outings such as travel, and even if the used EV is old, cars with a short mileage are conspicuous.
Used EV, easy to drop price
Next, when we analyzed the prices, we could see that the prices tended to drop. The 19-year model of the current model is about 2.4 million yen when the mileage is 30,000 km or less. It is significantly lower than the new car price (about 3.7 million to about 4.8 million yen).
A used car with the same conditions as the current Prius is also around 2.4 million yen, but the amount of decrease from the new car price of the current model (about 2.6 million to about 3.6 million yen) is small. HV used cars such as Toyota Prius and Aqua have been in the high price range due to the shortage of new cars, while EV used car prices are on a downward trend.
One of the reasons is the battery. The performance of used batteries depends not only on the mileage but also on the number of times of quick charging and power supply to home appliances. Judgment of the degree of deterioration is more difficult than the engine, and the buyer often feels uneasy. Even more so when the manufacturer's battery capacity warranty period of 8 years is exceeded, it costs hundreds of thousands of yen to replace the battery, which also affects the price.
"Half of the people who let go of an EV will switch to another EV, and the other half will return to a gasoline car," said a person in charge of a current car that buys and sells used cars. In order to prevent EVs from leaving and promote their spread, it is necessary to urgently expand the charging infrastructure and improve battery performance.
