Electric Chevrolet Equinox SUVs on dealer lot in suburban Detroit.

Ed Garsten

The average price of gasoline in the U.S. hit a four-year high of $4.18 a gallon on Monday, only days after it retreated to $4.03, according to the Triple A.

Until the war in the Middle East broke out at the end of February, the price of gas hadn’t breeched $4.00 since 2022, a bitter pill for drivers of gas-powered vehicles to swallow as they watched cost of a fill up thin their wallets.

With no estimate as to when the conflict will end or how soon gas prices would abate after a truce, many consumers who previously rejected buying a new battery electric or hybrid vehicle because of price, are suddenly taking a second look for more affordable models at used car lots.

They may be disappointed, however, as the law of supply and demand is sending the prices higher that dealers pay for electrified vehicles on the wholesale markets, as much as a 5%-10% “meaningful change” according to John Coles, vice president of data science & analytics at online wholesaler ACV Auctions.

Such a boost in wholesale values is normal for this time of year for used gasoline and diesel vehicles as the market enters the spring selling season and tax refunds are arriving, according to Coles.

For EV’s, however, the boost in wholesale prices is anomaly.

“EVs, given the large volume of lease returns the end of the tax credit last August, the large volume of lease returns coming into 2026, we were expecting the trend to pretty meaningfully pull down wholesale prices, and we did see that in January and February,” explained Coles. “But March hit a floor or a baseline that they then built off through April.”

That observation was echoed by Cox Automotive chief economist Jeremy Robb in a report on the latest Manheim Used Vehicle index.

“Meanwhile, gas prices remain above $4 per gallon and used EV values show higher appreciation than non-EV values,” wrote Robb.

Given the glut of EVs turned in at the end of their leases in the past year and trade-ins, dealer inventories appear to be sufficient to meet consumer demand, with a clear consumer preference of hybrids over battery-electric cars and trucks as a way to hedge their bets over how long gas prices will remain elevated.

“If you're not sure which way it's going to go, maybe you buy the thing that sort of could go either way,” observed Coles.

With rising wholesale prices triggering higher retail pricing, budget-minded consumers are turning to less expensive older electrified vehicles as evidenced by “20% to 40% more views and bids for those older EVs hybrids and plug in hybrids compared to this time last year,” Coles said.

The average transaction price for a new vehicle is “trending towards $45,990” in April according to J.D. Power, gas prices hit a record high and now even the cost for used vehicles that run on little or no gas are rising.

It’s a bit of piling on for motorists for whom affordability is an ongoing challenge.

As Cox Auto’s Jeremy Robb noted, “It’s going to be an interesting year observing the valuations and sales pace of used EVs as the market sniffs out consumer demand elasticity with the fluctuations in gas prices.”