Is it ok to buy EVs used or should you go for new. Would battery life be a problem for a used EV?
>>28947712It really depends how much the previous owner abused it, which isn’t any different than an ICE vehicle. The biggest thing that you can’t track is how the owner charged it. If they were constantly DC fast charging for all 20k miles then i would have concerns about battery health
>>28947712It’s totally fine, just run a diagnostic to check the battery health.
>>28947712A used EV is probably a safer bet than a used ICE vehicle, becaude you don't have to worry about whether the previous owner kept up with oil changes or other maintenance needs which EVs don't have. Just check the battery health and tires. Even frequent fast charging doesn't significantly impact range.
>>28947751Suspension could also be a problem.
Battery life concerns are a meme on any 2020s car. You shouldn't worry about it.
>>28947712Depends on the EV, depends on the battery. I was on the market for a used car recently so I did a ton of research on whether I should go EV or not. I went gas again, I chose to wait for a few more years.But in the meantime the best choice is to find a 3 year old EV, perfect spot between the catastrophic depreciation EVs suffer, and barely any battery degradation, bonus points is that the average EV battery warranty regardless of manufacturer is 8 years/100K miles. So you can get a good 3-5 years of coverage depending on how much/how long you drive. As a mater of fact it's such a standard battery warranty, it's the same warranty that covers hybrid batteries as well.If you're thinking something older, then take it to a specialist shop so they can provide you with a battery report, anything beyond 10-12 years and you'll be on your own, batteries are rated to last up to 15 years, and while battery replacements are not the totaling vehicle costs of repair they used to be, they're still like half of the cost of the average EV, even more for a used one, so unless you want to pay 10k-15K on a replacement battery stick to a newer EV.
>>28947712Do a battery test and get a warranty. Look up common faults with whatever model you're interested in. In general EVs are more reliable than ICE cars and you don't have to mind the previous owner taking proper service care. Sometimes it's more worth it to go new though if you can find a good lease deals. Some dealers are basically giving these cars away in leases.
>>28947712avoid anything before 2018 like the plague
>>28947751This.You have zero idea whether the previous owner revved up the cold engine, used shitty oil or didn't change it.With an EV these are far less problematic.You can probably read out some charging history (though it probably can be deleted) or do a battery test.
>>28947944Also battery tech has improved a lot in the last 10 years.With a car that old you get a used battery that had already been much worse when it was new.Maybe for a special use case (short daily city commutes when you can charge every night) when you get it extremely cheap.
>>28948071i would push that up to 2020, battery reliability since the late 10s has improved tenfold. There's model 3s with 300k miles on them and they still have 85% capacity
>>28947712Can't go wrong with a highly-specced BMW i3 REx S 120. Suspension is bone-crunchingly hard, but the regular i3 has rather shit suspension as well, and the S has a bit more refinement.
