What's the cheapest used EV I can buy?

Hey,

I currently have a 2002 VW Polo that's on its way out, I'd love to hang on to it but it's leaking water all over the place into the interior, mechanically it's fine so its a pity.

I have a brand new BMW superbike for my speed fix
and commute to work when we get back so I'm wondering about getting an old nissan leaf to replace the polo.

I really do no driving at all, just up to the shops 5 mins away. I could probably get away with buying a car that has a range of 20km but hoping they have lasted better than that.

There is a leaf on done deal with 87k on it for 5k euro. What do you guys reckon? Anything I should look out for, would I be better importing?

Literally the cheaper the better, I do feck all driving in the car because I have the bike so I don't really care about battery once it's not ridiculously short ranged..

What's the cost to charge one of these things compared to petrol costs.. also how long do they take to charge to say 80% , if I need to do a bit longer journey and stop to charge.

The bike has me in the hole for 20k so I'm literally looking for the cheapest leaf that would do me.

Thanks

unkel

Yep, you've done your research and an older Leaf with degraded battery would be fine for your use. They go as cheaply as €3.5k sometimes. You will also get a €600 subsidy for getting a home charger installed. If you buy a budget one, or a new one second hand, and you find an electrician that is not ripping you off, you should be able to get it installed for that sort of money, so a free install. Then there is up to 75% discount on tolls (M50 off peak) too and near zero running costs

Go for it!

And even a lowly Leaf might give you thoughts about your next bike being electric. Mark my words

Johnboy1951

What is the situation charging a used battery compared to a new one?
Say a used battery has degraded to 50% how does this affect the charge time (compared to new), to get it 'fully' charged?

I don't recall reading this info, so apologies if it is already discussed.

Gumbo

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

What is the situation charging a used battery compared to a new one?
Say a used battery has degraded to 50% how does this affect the charge time (compared to new), to get it 'fully' charged?

I don't recall reading this info, so apologies if it is already discussed.

Technically it will charge to “full” in half the time. Give or take.

But, there shouldn’t be many, if any at all EV’s with a 50% SOH battery other than possibly a few of the very early Leafs.

graememk

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

What is the situation charging a used battery compared to a new one?
Say a used battery has degraded to 50% how does this affect the charge time (compared to new), to get it 'fully' charged?

I don't recall reading this info, so apologies if it is already discussed.

It just acts like a smaller battery, you can't put as much in. So it won't take as long to finish charging.

*Charging speed may vary on a dc fast charge but on a normal house charge point I don't think there will be any difference.

Also I think the early leafs only charge at 3.3? Kw where new cars charge at 7 (on single phase, some can charge at 11 on three, and the zoes (and some tesla's) for example can charge at 22kw.

zg3409

Travis Howling SWordplay wrote: »

Hey,

I currently have a 2002 VW Polo that's on its way out, I'd love to hang on to it but it's leaking water all over the place into the interior, mechanically it's fine so its a pity.

I have a brand new BMW superbike for my speed fix
and commute to work when we get back so I'm wondering about getting an old nissan leaf to replace the polo.

I really do no driving at all, just up to the shops 5 mins away. I could probably get away with buying a car that has a range of 20km but hoping they have lasted better than that.

There is a leaf on done deal with 87k on it for 5k euro. What do you guys reckon? Anything I should look out for, would I be better importing?

Literally the cheaper the better, I do feck all driving in the car because I have the bike so I don't really care about battery once it's not ridiculously short ranged..

What's the cost to charge one of these things compared to petrol costs.. also how long do they take to charge to say 80% , if I need to do a bit longer journey and stop to charge.

The bike has me in the hole for 20k so I'm literally looking for the cheapest leaf that would do me.

Thanks

Cheapest is to stay with your old car as you want save much or anything on fuel costs. A back street garage could solve your leaks. Sometimes leaks can be solved for free if you find the source.

The cost to charge an electric vehicle at home is feck all, say a 24kWh leaf would cost Max 5 euro if totally flat. You can plug into an ordinary house socket, but it would take up to 12 hours if totally flat. You probably would never be flat so only maybe a couple of hours a week for your trips, like 40 cent.

If you need a longer trip, this is where downsides can crop up. The total round trip range of one of these obsolete small battery cars with old battery might be 80km or 60km. That's only 30km from home, beyond which you need to find a public charger. The 50kW+ chargers (the fastest for your car) can take 30 minutes to 1 hour to refill, so you can then go another 60 or 80km. If you assume the charger is available and working and no-one else has grabbed it first, going city to city involves extra delays due to multiple stops. Sometimes chargers are broken or busy, a broken charger could mean your trip us impossible and if busy could mean a wait for 1+ hour for charger to free up. There is also a small fee around 5 euro.

In my opinion you might be better fixing your car, getting a similar 8/10/15 year old petrol car for buttons, rather than sinking in 5000 euro with no real day to day savings or upsides. These cheap electric cars are very useful for 2 car households, where the other car is used for long trips, and where the electric car is used for a daily commute say 50km so fuel savings start to be significant. You would end up going from a keakibg car to a car that can't go long distance without pain. I don't see any upside and its 4000 more than equivant small petrol car. I say this being an electric car driver, but from a 2+ car household.

unkel

unkel wrote: »

Yep, you've done your research and an older Leaf with degraded battery would be fine for your use. They go as cheaply as €3.5k sometimes. You will also get a €600 subsidy for getting a home charger installed. If you buy a budget one, or a new one second hand, and you find an electrician that is not ripping you off, you should be able to get it installed for that sort of money, so a free install. Then there is up to 75% discount on tolls (M50 off peak) too and near zero running costs

Go for it!

And even a lowly Leaf might give you thoughts about your next bike being electric. Mark my words

Thanks for all the help guys!

Nah the next bike won't be electric haha

Prefer the noise of an engine plus it's actually lethally dangerous driving a bike with no noise and drivers cant hear you.

I actually have a mate who is an electrician and he will install the charger for free once I pay for the unit. I'm going to do a bit more research because looking at the replies I could actually get a leaf cheaper than the one advertised that would do the job so I will keep you posted.

@xg3409 thanks for your reply, I won't quote it because of the size. Take your points on board and they make alot of sense.

I usually fix the car myself tbh and I'm pretty sure it's had its day and I like tech so was thinking might be nice to go electric but I will take your points on board and do more research.

unkel

Come back to me in a few years time about not buying an electric bike

There's no need for any fixing on a Leaf, it is utterly reliable. I disagree with zg3409 on the financials though. If you buy a Leaf for around the €4k mark, it will be the cheapest car you could possibly own in terms of total cost of ownership (provided you can buy it from your savings and you are not taking on finance). It will be cheaper to own than any banger someone would give you for free.