Should I buy used EV?

chrisw

EVs 'should' be inherently more reliable as there are considerably less moving parts.

Items such as brake discs and pads will last a lot longer as much of the braking is regenerative, but it might get through tyres faster due to the torque and possibly suspension components due to the extra weight but most of these are bog standard repairs that can be carried out by anybody.

daveyjp

Brake components are likely to need replacement due to lack of use. We had a low mileage Toyota Aygo and after 12,000 miles over three years the front disks were falling apart. Water was held in the vents and they rusted out.

OP mentions a small child, Small children get larger and from my experience their need for "mum and dad taxis Ltd" increases exponentially until they drive themselves. That 2,000 miles a year may quickly become far far more.

lordmountararat

An EV would seem to be ideally suitable for someone who drives few miles mostly around town. I just traded a five year old EV that still had 93.3% battery, so a second hand EV should be OK from a trusted source, but insist on a battery health check before buying.

muffinek

Would a test like attached be sufficient? I assume if they were any dead cells, the certificate would mention them.

I noticed sometimes they describe battery as good health and sometimes excellent but I am not sure whats the threshold.

Herzlos

I'm not sure I'd worry too much about battery health given the driving being done. The battery would need to degrade to virtually nothing before it'd cause problems on 5 miles a day / 4 days a week. Even if the range drops to 50 miles, you're still only going to need to charge every other week.

I'd be tempted to get an older Leaf and not worry about Longevity.

(I'd definitely go EV though given the tiny mileage)

mgfvvc

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82171396#Comment_82171396

Do you live somewhere with a car club? If so, it might be worthwhile trying that out.

muffinek

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82172176#Comment_82172176

I have tried that. The only option is the standard car rentals around me.

ididgetwhereiamtoday

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82172087#Comment_82172087

A mark 1 Leaf registered before 2016 would have zero road tax too.

Ive had a Leaf and they are great cars for local use.

facade

Zero road tax is now £20, which is still cheap!

(I suppose you have to pay for the admin of sending out a reminder letter and those computers cost gazillions to process each record- I can barely afford to run one at home….)

I don't think I'd chance a 2016 leaf though unless I knew for a fact that it had never been rapid charged and had only done 20,000 miles or less. (Basically it would need to be a neighbour's car)

DrEskimo

I’m on my second used EV - ran a 2016 Renault Zoe from year 2-8 of its life and did around 30k miles, now currently driving a Tesla Model S Performance 2019 that I bought over 2yrs ago at 55k miles on the clock and now done 75k miles.

I would certainly avoid certain models (like the Gen 1 and 2 Zoe) and do your research on models that take your fancy, but overall I haven’t found much difference owning and running a used EV compared to a used ICE. Some models and engines have issues and some model EVs have issues… As ever it’s about doing your research.

Currently I still recommend Tesla as a good used EV. Hard to beat something like the Model 3 on tech, reliability and performance and the supercharger network remains an advantage even though it’s improving. The range estimate is always so accurate and the ease in which the navigation adds charging stops and the reliability of the network are great quality of life advantages for everyday ownership.