Dealers looking for a way to accurately assign a trade-in value to an electric vehicle brand that they don’t sell have a new tool to turn to. EV wholesale online auction platform Plug recently launched Trade Desk, an application that does the valuation work for the dealer.

“If you’re a dealer that represents a specific (manufacturer) and you’re evaluating an EV trade-in from another (manufacturer), you may have experienced downsides to not being subject-matter experts on those specific vehicles,” Jimmy Douglas, Plug founder and CEO, tells WardsAuto.

Plug removes acquisition guesswork and time delays.

To obtain a value through Trade Desk, a dealer enters a vehicle’s VIN and EV-specific data, including battery, software-enabled features, charging network and tax credits.

“Within 15 minutes, we come back with a cash offer for that vehicle,” Douglas says. “If the dealer opts to accept that cash offer, we become the owner and sell it through (our) auction.”

Plug conducts wholesale EV auctions, generally daily and in 2024 sold $10 million worth of EVs, Douglas says. In the first quarter of 2025, it has already sold $5 million worth of used EVs with an average value of $25,000.

That data gives Plus unique insights into used EV residual values, Douglas says.

Plug’s proprietary software has immediate information on what used EVs are selling for wholesale. And it accesses observations Plug personnel have made on dealership lots to aid in arriving at a price.

“Most traditional indexes are lagging indicators,” Douglas says. “It is an incredible opportunity because we are so focused on this niche part of the used-car market.”

EVs acquired through Trade Desk are usually sold within 48 hours, he says.

Preparing For a Wave of Lease Returns

The idea for Trade Desk came to Douglas, who previously ran sales and delivery operations in North America for Tesla when he saw the volume of EV leases surging.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, for example, EVs accounted for 19.5% of all new vehicle leases, up from 11.7% in the same quarter of 2023, according to Experian’s State of the Automotive Finance Market Report. Those vehicles are generally packed with advanced technology, Experian notes, so “it’s no surprise we’re seeing leasing grow in popularity.”

Douglas expects an imminent wave of lease returns.

A ‘Simple and Effective Process’

EV sales, in general, continue to rise. According to J.D. Power, the overall EV market share as a percentage of total vehicle sales volume was 9.3% in March, up from 8.4% in March of 2024.

Some 23% of shoppers in the market in March were “very likely” to consider buying or leasing an EV in the next 12 months in, up from 22.5% in March 2024.

Despite the expected increase in EV trade-ins as the number of EVs on the road rises, not all dealerships need a special tool to establish trade-in value.

At Cascade Auto Group in Ohio, which has Audi, Mazda, and Subaru franchises, sales managers don’t think an EV-specific platform is necessary to establish a trade-in value, managing partner Michelle Primm tells WardsAuto.

They look at Carfax, the Manheim Market Report and BlackBook for values, she says.

Kabir “KB” Bahroos, used cars director at Frontier Toyota in Valencia, CA, tells WardsAuto he appreciates Trade Desk’s functions, however. Frontier Toyota is one of around 50 dealerships that have piloted Trade Desk.

Trade Desk “is a very simple and effective process,” Bahroos says. “I don’t understand why someone didn’t come up with this sooner.” 

His dealership receives an average of four or five EVs a month on trade-in, he says.  Lately, they have acquired a number of Teslas, Bahroos adds.