Guide: How to choose a second-hand electric car
The electric car is very economical in use. However, it is still somewhat expensive in its upfront cost. Fortunately, even if you are tight on budget, you can enjoy EV owning. The solution here is to buy a used electric car.
However, in contrast to a brand-new auto, a used one may hide some pitfalls. Therefore, in this post, we highlight things to pay attention to when choosing a second-hand EV.
Common things to consider
Some of the pitfalls may be typical for both petrol and electric cars. Therefore, you need to do your due diligence regarding the following aspects:
- Service history
- Accident history
- Suspension, brake, steering, and other systems conditions
This enables you to assess the overall health and safety of the auto you are going to buy.
In addition, there are aspects that are specific for the electric car, such as battery health and mileage interpretation.
Battery health
The battery is one of the most frequent issues with electric vehicles. To clarify, over time, an EV battery degrades and loses its capacity. In other words, over time, an EV gets shorter in its range. Even if you install new electric car charging points, they don’t improve the performance of an old battery.
On average, the annual battery degradation rate is around 2-3 percent. However, there are other factors that affect the battery condition:
- Charging habits
- Intensity of use
- Conditions of use
So, when it comes to purchasing an electric car, always check its battery state of health (SOH). For example, in some models, the battery has a dashboard that displays its remaining capacity. Also, ask the current owner how did they charge and use the car. Incomplete or frequent rapid charging, irregular use, or use under tough weather conditions may accelerate battery degradation.
Mileage interpretation
Though for electric cars, the mileage is not as crucial as for petrol ones, it still matters.
To clarify, it may correlate to some extent with battery SOH. For example, evidently, driving 100,000 miles requires at least five times more charge cycles than driving only 20,000 miles. However, too low mileage speaks about insufficient car charging, which also doesn’t do its battery any good.
Thus, we recommend avoiding vehicles with too low or too high annual mileage.