Should You Buy a Used Electric Car Now?

With the price of gasoline going up even more, is now a good time to buy a used electric car to drive until prices come back down?  The answer depends largely on how far you drive each day and where you plan to charge.  If you plan to use a public DC fast-charger regularly, then choose whichever EV pleases you.  If you instead plan to charge at home (without investing in a level-2 240v charger), then you need to be a little more careful in your choice. 

Charging an EV using a standard household electric outlet (120v, called “level-1”) is usually done at night when you have finished for the day and can leave the vehicle plugged in for a long stretch of time.  If you plug in at 9:00pm and unplug at 7:00am, you will be able to charge for 10 hours.  Most EVs come with a 1KW charger that can add 1 kilowatt hour (KWh) of power to your battery each hour, amounting to 10 kilowatt hours of power added to your car’s battery.  Depending upon the EV, that can provide anywhere from 22 to 45 miles of driving.  Switching to a slightly faster charger (1.2KW) can give you 12 KWh of power, upping the driving range to 26 to 54 miles.  (This is the highest power charger that you can connect to a 15-amp circuit.)  You can find these on Amazon, Lectron, among others.

Now, consider how many miles you will be driving each day.  If you drive fewer than 10 miles a day in a gas-powered car, you are slowly ruining the car’s engine and should really switch to an EV.  You can plug in every two or three days and not have to worry about running out of battery.  Nearly all the older EVs with their small batteries can support these short-range trips.  Early EVs (2011-2018) tend to have battery packs that hold about 50 to 80 miles of range.

Small-battery used EVs are more affordable and meet most driving needs.

If you drive 25 to 40 miles each day, you will likely need to charge your vehicle every night.  The same early EVs will meet most of your needs, but you may want to consider a vehicle with over 100 miles of driving range.  The battery composition and technology improved somewhat around 2018 leading to slightly larger battery capacities and longer-lived range retention.  (My 2017 BMW i3 still has 88% of its original range capability.)  Part of this is because larger batteries need to charge less frequently than smaller batteries (but still face the same limits on number of useful charge cycles).

If you drive more than 40 miles a day, I recommend installing a home level-2 charger (or having access to good public chargers near home or work).  This will allow your car to charge faster and load more miles into your battery.  During the same 10-hour charging period, you could charge from 145 to 295 miles, depending on the efficiency of your EV.  I used 2.2 miles per kilowatt hour for big trucks like the Hummer, and 4.5 miles per kilowatt hour for the most efficient EVs, like Tesla, Lucid, and Hyundai.  Nearly any new EV will meet your range needs today, but these used models will also help meet your needs.  If you cannot install a level-2 charger, and you need to drive so many miles a day, get a car with a larger battery and charge using a level-1 charger at home each night.  The charge level will gradually drop each night because the level-1 charger can only provide a limited amount of power.  When the charge level drops below 25%, visit a DC fast-charger to top off the battery.  This will reduce the frequency of public charger visits.

Lastly, when buying a used EV, consider limiting your selection to those cars that use liquid cooling for the battery, as these batteries tend to retain more of their charge capacity over time.  And, unlike a gasoline engine, a car with an electric motor that hasn’t been driven much will be more like new without the risk of leaky gaskets and brittle belts.  So, grab a low-mileage, inexpensive used EV and stop spending so much money on gasoline.  You’ll probably find you prefer driving an electric car, even with its limitations.

Running to Placerville

 About 25 years ago, my father moved to a horse ranch near Placerville, CA.  When he died last year, my siblings and I made many trips to his ranch from San Jose.  Many of my trips involved moving materials to a recycling station in Placerville, so I drove my old gas-powered Dodge Dakota pickup.  I could manage two loads to the recycling center in a day’s work.  Other times, I would have to conduct business in Placerville, including clearing out a safe deposit box, paying property taxes, signing paperwork at the funeral home, and such.

For these trips into town, I wanted to drive the newer BMW i3.  Its battery is EPA rated for 154 miles of range.  I enjoy driving the two-lane highways more than the interstates, and I can drive a little farther at the slower speeds (55 MPH instead of 65).  Also, the shortest route to Placerville would take me down two-lane roads for about 40% of the trip, so the shortest route was also the most peaceful (and scenic).  And, at 142 miles, the route was within the capabilities of my car.

My off-interstate route to Placerville

Luckily, there is a DC fast charger at the grocery store next to the bank I was visiting.  So, it was easy to plug in, take care of my business at the bank or get lunch at the grocery store, and come back to nearly a full charge.  And, because of the slower speeds along much of the trip, I arrived with more than 20 miles of range remaining, making for a relaxing journey.  In all, I made four such trips in the BMW i3.  If I had to drive the 2017 BMW i3, I would have had to charge two additional times along the way, so the purchase of the 2019 BMW i3 is already showing its worth.