Gas prices are rising. As well as the demand for used electric vehicles

Purchase inquiries are At iDrive1 Motors in Carrollton, Texas, where owner Dink Davis has specialized in used electric vehicles for a decade. Gas prices aren’t nearly as high in the Lone Star State as they are in other parts of the United States, yet It was Iran and The ensuing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz Global oil prices rise in late February. Compare the average of $3.68 per gallon in Texas to the average of $5.89 in California. But AAA says prices have risen nationally by more than a third since the start of the conflict. Davis and his three employees — who are in the business of selling battery-powered cars, not gas — are very busy.

“It’s gotten stupid over the last three weeks,” Davis says. “We can barely keep up with things coming.” On Tuesday, he says, a customer traded in a diesel Jeep, which cost more than $100 to fill up, with a used electric car.

Data from Cox Motors It shows that US sales of used electric vehicles rose 12 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2025, with 93,500 cars sold in 2026 so far. That’s still a small part of the overall used car market, but “the trajectory is notable,” Stephanie Valdez Streety, the company’s director of industry insights, said last month.

Edmunds, which tracks shopper research on electric vehicles on its website, says consumer interest in the powertrain is up a few percentage points since the beginning of the year.

The surge in interest in used electric cars comes at a strange and opportune time. In the Stranger Column: Automakers that sell electric vehicles in the U.S. continue to hold back on introducing new vehicles for the time being, after the federal government cut subsidies for both potential buyers of electric vehicles and manufacturers of the vehicles. Honda last month Three electric vehicles have not been cancelled Plus a long-planned collaboration with Sony to build a digital-first electric sedan. Ford The company has discontinued the F-150 Lightning and canceled its next-generation electric truck last year. Stellantis has been cancelled All-electric Dodge Ram Last fall. Sales of new electric vehicles are still growing in the United States but not at the level expected earlier this decade. In short, the electric vibes are a bit off.

In the relevant column: Used electric cars are a pretty good deal right now. Although new battery-powered cars are still much more expensive than gas-powered cars — Cox cited a median price gap of $6,500 in January — the gap is narrowing for used cars. The average price of used electricity is $34,800, which is a lot of money, but only $1,300 more than the average price of gas-fired electricity.

And in the coming months, the price could get even better: About 200,000 used electric cars are scheduled to be leased this year, after American consumers start to do so. It was once attracted by the generous tax incentives for rented electricitystart converting it to three times the 2024 levels. (Those incentives are gone Moreover, large and expensive car batteries, once feared to be the Achilles’ heel of the used electric market, are now Resilience is much better from Even industry experts thought They might do that.

Cox analysts believe it will take six months or more of higher gas prices to turn consumers’ eyes to electric vehicles. The longer the conflict drags on, the greater the potential for permanent damage to Middle East oil facilities — and for the pain to continue to pump.

In Utah, Alex Lawrence, CEO of used business EV Auto, said in mid-March that buyer interest was making its way inland from California as gas prices continued to rise. “I’m investing more in my inventory because I’m betting that demand will go up,” he said. Phone calls and social media comments about his business have gone up significantly, but customers “aren’t coming in droves yet,” he said.

By the end of the month, this trend continued to creep along. “It’s getting busier,” Lawrence said.