Consumers may no longer have a hard time finding an EV to buy now that dealer inventory for them is higher than for internal combustion vehicles
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The supply of electric vehicles has finally caught up with demand. According to research from Cox Automotive, America’s dealerships now have a relatively greater supply of electric vehicles than gas-powered vehicles.
The average inventory supply of electric vehicles has grown to 92 days in the second quarter of 2023, up from just 36 days a year ago. By comparison, the industry-wide new vehicle supply was 51 days in the most recent quarter.
The days’ supply is an industry metric that measures how long a vehicle will stay in a dealer’s inventory before being sold. The number can include vehicles in progress, in transit, and more, not just those sitting on dealers’ lots, Cox told Autonews.
Read: Tesla Delivered A Record 466,140 Vehicles Last Quarter Or Up 83% Year-On-Year
Despite spending more days on the lot, the numbers suggest that EV sales are accelerating faster than ICE vehicles, meaning that they are still gaining market share. Indeed, in the first quarter of 2023, electric vehicles accounted for seven percent of new car sales.
One of the factors leading to EVs’ longer stays in dealer inventory may be that the technology isn’t quite as new anymore. With used examples now coming onto the market, the vehicles now have greater staying power.
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That’s good news for consumers, more than half of whom said they would consider buying an EV in the next 12 months. While buyers are drawn to the lower maintenance, cost of ownership, and the environmental benefit, the high MSRPs of most EVs remains a barrier for many.
However, dealers aren’t as convinced as buyers. Of the 152 dealers surveyed by Cox, less than 33 percent believed that EVs were the future. Half of them felt that the vehicles still need time to prove themselves on the market. Regardless, 80 percent of them will be forced by automakers to invest in electrification.
