Consumer interest in electric vehicles is booming says new analysis of online search terms with ‘electric’ now being one of the most popular requests for those looking for a used car.

The data, compiled by iVendi, who provide back end technology to many used car dealers, found that searches relating to PHEVs, Hybrids and EVs had risen to 1.34 per cent of all searches, up from 0.53 per cent in the previous year.

The sale of electric vehicles has risen substantially in the last two years, with fuel prices sure to be spiking even further demand in 2022, but while EV cars now account for one in ten of every car sold in the UK, demand for used EVs is still taking some time to catch up with that trend.

“Electric vehicles remain a relatively small part of the used car sector with only very low volumes available but our figures show that interest is growing at a pace,” said Rob Severs, senior VP at iVendi.

“Search terms tend to remain fairly consistent over time and big shifts are quite rare so, although this represents just 1.34% of all searches, it is a somewhat sizeable shift and one that very much indicates the future direction of the market.”

This shift in market focus has forced many manufacturers and dealers to reconsider their search-term phraseology to reflect what car consumers might actually be looking for, such as adding terms such ‘medium range’ and ‘ULEZ’ to the mix. This is something which Severs admits that has been influenced by demand.

“With car buyers becoming both more curious and more informed about EVs of all kinds, we believe that now is very much the right moment to be introducing this enhancement,” he added.

“We’ve worked hard to ensure that the intuitive phrases that our search engine recognises will closely match consumer use of the same language, although this is a fast-moving area and it will need to be continually modified.”

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