Used or new
Registration figures from the original auto-schweiz Excel files, analysed by us. As of 2026-08-31.
This page is the reading version. Calculators, filters and charts on this topic are on the home page, in the section of the same name. To the section on the home page →
Used or new?
What decides it is who carries the depreciation of the first years. Here are the figures on that, and where they stop.
- The largest share of an electric car’s depreciation is paid by the first owner — a two- to three-year-old car is the cheapest way in.
- The state of the battery decides, not the odometer: do not buy a used electric car without a condition report.
- The running-cost advantage arises at the socket, not in the vehicle — between home charging and a motorway stop lies a factor of two to three.
The first owner pays the steep part — you buy after that
The large loss of value in the first two to three years is the first buyer’s risk and precisely your opportunity as the second buyer. In figures: a used electric car costs on average CHF 40’599, a new one CHF 51’424 (Q1 2026). The roughly CHF 11’000 difference has been written off by somebody else, not by you. For individual models the gap is larger still — a Jaguar I-Pace loses over 60 percent against its list price.
The condition: this calculation only works with a healthy battery. Without a measured SoH you are buying the discount blind and cannot see whether it reflects normal depreciation or conceals a real fault. So ask for a current battery certificate. How to get one and how to read it is further down under “Checking the battery”.
How large the used EV market is today
Among new cars, pure electric vehicles reached a market share of 22,8 percent in 2025, and 34 percent including plug-ins. But of the entire vehicle fleet on Swiss roads only 5,2 percent of all passenger cars are pure electric — a year earlier it was 4,2 percent.
This gap between new sales and the fleet is why the choice of used electric cars still looks thin today: what is sold new only shows up as a used car several years later. The jump from 4,2 to 5,2 percent in one year also shows how fast the fleet is growing. Anyone finding little today will find considerably more in one or two years — and with the larger supply, prices fall further.
Source: auto-schweiz annual report 2025 (May 2026), ASTRA/IVZ register. Shares of new registrations and of the fleet, passenger cars, Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein, fleet cut-off 30.09.2025.
What comes into the country used
Almost one in ten used cars imported is electric — and it has barely been driven.
Part of the used market does not arise in Switzerland at all: vehicles are imported second-hand and registered here for the first time. The Federal Roads Office records these imports vehicle by vehicle, with drivetrain, country of origin and canton.
The finding that matters for a purchase: the electric imports are almost new. Anyone looking for a used EV is buying, in this channel, what amounts to a year-old car — young returns from leasing and fleets, not old second-hand vehicles. For combustion cars it is the other way round.
Where the electric ones come from
| Deutschland | 1’768 |
| Italien | 366 |
| Belgien | 273 |
| Spanien | 242 |
| Oesterreich | 237 |
| Norwegen | 201 |
| Frankreich | 177 |
| Niederlande | 167 |
Only the current year is calculated. The annual files up to 2021 carry no hybrid code; plug-in and full hybrid cannot be told apart there, and a yearly series would show a zero for plug-ins in those years that means «not recorded» and looks like «none».
Source: Federal Roads Office FEDRO, vehicle information system (MOFIS), used-import dataset. Passenger cars, assigned by the year of first recording in Switzerland. The canton counted is that of the current registration, not the first — for an import that is often the importer’s place of business.
The used-car market, year by year
From 2,45 per cent to 6,69: that many changes of keeper for passenger cars involved a purely electric vehicle, Jan–Sep 2022 to Jan–Sep 2026.
| Jan–Sep | Changes, electric | Share | Age in years | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13’578 | 2,45 % | 1,8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2023 | 13’659 | 2,43 % | 2,1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 20’534 | 3,59 % | 2,4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2025 | 29’016 | 5,01 % | 2,7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2026 | 38’037 | 6,69 % | 3,1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Each year stands on its own, and all of them cover the same months — Jan–Sep. Setting a part-year against full years would produce a slump that does not exist. Comparing equal periods is the same rule as for risers and fallers in the model radar.
The last column is the more interesting one: the average age of vehicles at the change of keeper rises from 1,8 to 3,1 years. The electric used-car market started out living on nearly new cars — lease returns and demonstrators. It is ageing, and that is the precondition for an electric car to become affordable at all for someone who does not buy new.
Not every year sits above the one before: in 2023 the share was below the 2022 figure. A comparison that sets just two years side by side never shows this — it always looks like a straight line.
What is counted are changes of keeper, not sales: inheritance, a move to another keeper and return to the dealer are all included. The share measures how many of all changes of keeper involve an electric car — not how often an electric car changes hands. This file does not carry the electric fleet needed for that.
Source: Federal Roads Office FEDRO, vehicle information system (MOFIS), changes-of-keeper dataset (AHOI), month by month since January 2022, retrieved daily. Only counts and vehicle age are evaluated — no analysis by age, sex or place of residence of vehicle keepers.
Average used prices by drivetrain, annual data 2025
Used electric cars lose value fastest at −8,3 percent — exactly the discount the first owner carried and that you take with you as the second buyer.
| Drivetrain | Avg. price CHF | Δ vs. 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plug-in hybrid | 56’156 | +1,25 % | |
| Mild hybrid | 50’245 | -5 % | |
| Electric | 43’549 | -8,3 % | |
| Petrol | 37’571 | -0,2 % | |
| Full hybrid | 35’479 | -1,2 % | |
| Diesel | 23’673 | -6 % |
Source: AutoScout24 annual data 2025, reported via motoro.ch (secondary source, May 2026).
Q1 2026 — has the decline stopped?
- All used cars avg. CHF 36’884 (−3,4 % against the previous quarter)
- Used electric cars avg. CHF 40’599 (−3,2 %)
- New electric cars avg. CHF 51’424 (−4,2 %)
- All new cars avg. CHF 61’078 (+0,2 %)
AutoScout24 reports that the price decline came to a standstill in March 2026. Whether that is a floor or a pause cannot be told from a single quarter.
Individual models: how far it can fall
- Jaguar I-Pace: −62 % against the list price. Average list price over CHF 93’000, used price avg. CHF 35’500.
- Porsche Taycan: −50 % of the list price.
Source: AutoScout24 analysis for Blick. Basis: models with at least ten listings from January 2023 to February 2024, first registered 2019–2022. As of early 2024 — around two and a half years old. There are no newer freely available model figures.
The more expensive and the rarer, the harder the fall. Both models sold in small numbers. The model radar marks such vehicles as “rare”.
How reliable is a used electric car?
| Vehicle age | Breakdowns per 1000 electric | Breakdowns per 1000 combustion | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 years | 2,1 | 5,8 | 1 : 2,8 |
| 4 years | 6,5 | 12,5 | 1 : 1,9 |
| 5 years | 10,3 | 17,4 | 1 : 1,7 |
Source: ADAC breakdown statistics 2026 (data year 2025), 158 model ranges from 27 manufacturers. German data — no Swiss model-level survey exists.
- The most common breakdown across all drivetrains: the 12-volt battery, almost half of all callouts.
- The specific electric weakness is the low-voltage electrical system. There they sit above combustion cars, partly because of standby current drawn by app functions.
- Most reliable three-year-old cars overall: BMW i3 (0,4) and Tesla Model 3 (0,7) — both electric.
- One specific concern in the electric segment: the Hyundai Ioniq 5, with documented problems in the charging control unit (ICCU) which in a fault can leave the car stranded.
Everything about the battery now has its own tab
Condition, test methods, which value is good, LFP versus NMC, end of life and fire risk have moved out of this tab into the Battery tab. The material sat in four places and was three clicks deep here; with a used car the battery is the first question, not the last. This tab is about price, depreciation and inspection.
Crash tests: the result surprises many people
At the end of 2025 Euro NCAP tested 23 models in the largest group assessment of the year, before stricter criteria came into force in 2026. 18 vehicles received five stars, five only four. The three best overall scores, at 93 percent each, went to the Mercedes CLE Coupé and to two Chinese electric SUVs: the Leapmotor B10 and the Hongqi EHS7.
| Adult occupant protection | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Leapmotor B10 China | 93 % | |
| BYD Seal 6 China | 92 % | |
| Tesla Model Y USA | 91 % | |
| Škoda Elroq Czech Republic | 90 % | |
| VW ID.3 Germany | 86 % | |
| BMW 2er Gran Coupé Germany, only four stars | 78 % |
Sources: Euro NCAP via autohaus.de, auto-medienportal and autocolumn, test round November 2025.
Second: the claim that every Chinese car tested so far has received five stars comes from a secondary source and could not be verified with Euro NCAP. It stands here as an indication, not as evidence.
Third: stricter criteria apply from 2026. Results from 2025 and 2026 are not directly comparable. Check the test year along with the specific vehicle.
What charging costs now has its own tab
Charging prices, providers, charging cards and charging times at home have moved out of this tab into the Charging tab — together with the Federal Office of Energy’s figures on public charging infrastructure. This tab is about depreciation and price; charging has little to do with either and was therefore in the wrong place.
