Cox’s August Used-EV Sales Were 44% Above February, With Supply Still at 42 Days

Cox Automotive estimates that 44,350 used EVs were sold in the U.S. in August. That is about 43.6% above Cox’s February count of 30,879, even though Cox reported the same 42 days of used-EV supply in both months.¹²

The price measure moved higher too. Cox put the average used-EV listing price at $37,441 in August, versus $34,821 in February. Using those two published values, August was about 7.5% higher.¹²

That February-to-August comparison is the useful part of the new data: Cox’s series shows a substantially larger estimated sales count without a higher reported days’-supply figure. It does not establish that demand caused prices to rise, that the market is supply-constrained, or that sales grew 43.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

February versus August in Cox’s used-EV data

Metric	February 2026	August 2026	ATC comparison
Estimated used-EV sales	30,8792	44,3501	+43.6%
Days’ supply	422	421	unchanged
Average listing price	$34,8212	$37,4411	+7.5%

The calculations are straightforward: (44,350 - 30,879) / 30,879 ≈ 43.6% for sales, and (37,441 - 34,821) / 34,821 ≈ 7.5% for average listing price.

Cox’s Sept. 15 August EV Market Monitor already shows strong shorter-term movement. The company estimates used-EV sales rose 25.9% from July and 14.7% from August 2025. It also reports that used-EV supply fell to 42 days and reached parity with ICE+ vehicles for the first time this year.¹

The February baseline changes how those August figures read. A 42-day supply metric alongside 44,350 estimated sales is a different market snapshot from the same 42-day figure alongside 30,879 estimated sales six months earlier. Taken together, the two Cox reports are consistent with more dealer-channel used-EV volume moving through the market without a higher days’-supply metric.¹²

But days’ supply is not an inventory-count comparison. The identical 42-day figure does not mean the number or mix of vehicles for sale was identical in February and August. Cox also says growing off-lease returns are expanding used-EV availability, but these two monthly snapshots do not isolate lease returns—or any other single factor—as the cause of the higher sales count.¹

The pricing comparison needs a similar boundary. Cox’s $37,441 August figure is an average listing price, not a completed transaction price. Vehicle mix can also change between months, so the 7.5% February-to-August increase should not be read as a like-for-like appreciation rate for an individual used EV.¹²

Cox’s data also have channel limits worth keeping in view. Its August report says Tesla and Rivian used-vehicle figures reflect vehicles available through traditional dealerships and exclude factory-owned outlets; its February report similarly notes the traditional-dealer limitation for Tesla.¹² That makes the monitor useful for tracking the dealer market, but not a complete census of every used-EV transaction channel.

The next Cox releases will show whether August’s combination—higher estimated sales than February, the same 42-day supply metric and a higher average listing price—persists or was specific to the mix and timing of this summer’s used-EV market.

Sources

Footnotes

1. EV Market Monitor – August 2026 — Cox Automotive, Sept. 15, 2026. https://www.coxautoinc.com/insights/ev-market-monitor-august-2026/ Establishes Cox’s August used-EV sales estimate, days’ supply, average listing price, month-over-month and year-over-year changes, ICE+ parity statement, off-lease interpretation, and Tesla/Rivian traditional-dealer limitation. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

2. EV Market Monitor – February 2026 — Cox Automotive, March 16, 2026. https://www.coxautoinc.com/insights/ev-market-monitor-february-2026/ Establishes Cox’s February used-EV sales estimate, 42-day supply, average listing price, and Tesla traditional-dealer limitation used as the historical baseline. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸