EVM considers those Second-hand Electric cars currently priced at £10,500 or under are only suitable as a second car for a household due to the remaining range available.
Overview of buying a Second-hand car.
Range anxiety
“Range anxiety is something experienced only by people that don’t drive EVs, as it goes within two weeks generally. I think green number plates will help, as many people don’t understand how many EVs they see every day; this helps make it more “normal” to go EV”. Mike Potter of DriveElectric is quoted in the Admiral Insurance Newsletter article: Driving greener: motoring after lockdown.
Limited battery lifespan
Limited battery lifespan is one of the most common myths about electric cars. Not only do automakers like Tesla and Volkswagen expect batteries to last the life of a vehicle, but some expect them to last longer, and have proposed so-called “second-life” uses of batteries as stationary power sources.
Understanding the lifetime of a Battery is very important. Note the long battery warranties, many of which will not have expired for these second-hand cars.
With a decent Battery management System the Degradation should be minimal
Battery State of Health (SoH) is key information when buying a second-hand car. Batteries can be reconditioned when the SoH is dropping.
Mileage
Be aware that mileage does not have the same impact on an EV as it does on an ICE, due to having few moving parts.
In a comment to the above video, Simon Reeves says: “All the items that fail with mileage are not present on an EV – clutch, transmission, cam belt/chain, oil leaks, starter motor, alternator, exhaust, sensors, head gasket, loss of compression and so on. An EV drive train is so beautifully simple that these vehicles should be able to do 500k miles, with virtually no maintenance!”
