Old electric cars?

Jaded2022

what happens when a battery has had it or almost had it?

would it still be able to travel a short distance between charges?

if I need only 4 miles or so could I buy a cheap old electric car?

Ibrahim5

Yes theoretically but in reality they aren't cheap.

ElefantEd

I'd be amazed if you can buy a BEV with only 4 miles worth of battery left. Or even only 20. I doubt there is one old enough to have lost that much battery capacity - assuming normal use, obviously an accident or one that has failed comprehensibly for some reason, but one that is deteriorating normally? For such a short distance why not just cycle or get an e-bike!

Jaded2022

Ibrahim5 said:

Yes theoretically but in reality they aren't cheap.

There are some really cheap electric cars two decades old because the battery has had it

Jaded2022

Some of the first generation Nissan Leaf and other older cars are very cheap

Grumpy_chap

ElefantEd said:

I'd be amazed if you can buy a BEV with only 4 miles worth of battery left. Or even only 20. 

There was a thread recently on here where someone was looking to buy exactly that - a Leaf with 20 mile range.

Jaded2022

Grumpy_chap said:

ElefantEd said:

I'd be amazed if you can buy a BEV with only 4 miles worth of battery left. Or even only 20. 

There was a thread recently on here where someone was looking to buy exactly that - a Leaf with 20 mile range.

What happens over the next few years would it keep going down and then does it bottom out at just a few miles or does it eventually stop working all together?

i have two free chargers a few miles apart I want to use

Alanp

Agree with elefanted, get an e bike and some decent wet weather gear, or stick to a small ice car

MX5huggy

Jaded2022 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

ElefantEd said:

I'd be amazed if you can buy a BEV with only 4 miles worth of battery left. Or even only 20. 

There was a thread recently on here where someone was looking to buy exactly that - a Leaf with 20 mile range.

What happens over the next few years would it keep going down and then does it bottom out at just a few miles or does it eventually stop working all together?

i have two free chargers a few miles apart I want to use

It’s more than a “few years” but yes it continues to decrease after 8 years it’s down by 20 to 30% on a Leaf. On a BMW i3 which has much better thermal management of the battery I’ve not seen significant reports of range reduction. https://flipthefleet.org/2018/30-kwh-nissan-leaf-firmware-update-to-correct-capacity-reporting/

Herzlos

Jaded2022 said:

what happens when a battery has had it or almost had it?

would it still be able to travel a short distance between charges?

if I need only 4 miles or so could I buy a cheap old electric car?

There are older Leafs on the market with a remaining usable range of about 20 miles going cheap. People like Ibrahim5 will have a seizure at the idea that such a car is useful to someone, though. He's got a reputation for being wildly uninformed so is best ignored

I don't think there are any working EV's with a range as low as 4 miles, though.

Herzlos

Jaded2022 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

ElefantEd said:

I'd be amazed if you can buy a BEV with only 4 miles worth of battery left. Or even only 20. 

There was a thread recently on here where someone was looking to buy exactly that - a Leaf with 20 mile range.

What happens over the next few years would it keep going down and then does it bottom out at just a few miles or does it eventually stop working all together?

i have two free chargers a few miles apart I want to use

It'll continue to tail off gradually until one day you won't be able to make it to the other charger. At 4 miles though, I suspect the car will need to be scrapped for something else, first.

For some perspective, the first Leaf (2010) had a range of about 70 miles and 12 years later the worst ones are down to about 20 miles. So you've probably got another 10 years for it to drop as low as 4.