CARY, N.C. -

When it comes to electric and hybrid vehicles, consumers are more open to considering new vehicles than they are to considering used versions of those cars.

But don’t sleep on the pre-owned segment of alternative-fuel vehicles.

As part of the 2021 Electric Vehicle Sentiment Survey from CarGurus, consumers were asked, “Which ways of acquiring an alternative fuel vehicle would you consider?” and were instructed to select all that applied.

Among those who plan to own an alternative-fuel vehicle within the decade, 73% said they were open to buying an electric vehicle as new and 61% said the same of hybrids, according to the CarGurus data.

While considerably lower, the certified pre-owned and used segments of these vehicles still had some strong numbers.

For EVs, 45% said they were open to buying as CPO. Hybrids yielded similar CPO consideration at 44%. Meantime, 42% would buy electrics as used and 42% said the same for hybrids.

In emailed comments, CarGurus senior consumer insights analyst Ali Chapman explained some of the used-car dynamics in EVs.

“Car buyers tend to understand that 'going green' with the purchase of an electric vehicle will usually come with a higher ticket price when compared with gas-powered vehicles and our study showed that consumers may turn to the used or CPO market as a way to offset those costs,” Chapman said. “Additionally, our study showed that younger shoppers are more likely to be interested in both used and new electric vehicles, and dealerships that have alternative-powered vehicles on their lots can use this inventory to engage with these potential new customers.”

At the end of its survey data set, this was one of the recommendations that CarGurus had for dealers: “Consider acquiring a handful of used EVs. Though most EV shoppers would prefer to buy new, close to half of those interested would consider buying CPO (45%) or used (42%).”

Evidence of growing traction in pre-owned alternative-fuel vehicles can be found among leading used-car retailers.

At Carvana, for instance, electric vehicle purchases climbed 24% year-over-year in 2020.

While the Nissan Leaf was the most popular EV among Carvana buyers last year, two of the top five were Tesla vehicles: The Model 3 in second and the Model S in fourth.

Tesla vehicles sold an average of 37 days after Carvana acquired them. The rate for other vehicles is 70 days.

Of the Tesla units Carvana sold last year, 70% were purchased from consumers.

Meanwhile, CarMax has set its sights on reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. And in addition to announcing those net-zero plans last month, CarMax said it is also eyeing more EV momentum as well.

CarMax plans on putting investment toward “training, tools and internal infrastructure” that can aid in the servicing and reconditioning of electrics