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.

Driving the BMW i3 up to Ridge Vineyards

 When I started working at Ridge Vineyards in Cupertino in 2015, I was still driving my 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car, with its 16-KWh battery and 63 horsepower.  Driving four miles up the mountain was a slow, careful run up the hill.  I’d have to drive with the window down and whistle so the bicyclists would hear me approaching and move over.  If I tried to go faster, the drive would eat through my remaining charge quickly.  After a few months of these weekly trips, I noticed the car’s range starting to drop, and soon I had lost 15% of my battery capacity from the stress of driving up the mountain.  So, I stopped taking the i-MiEV to the winery and drove my gas car instead.

My drive up the mountain to Ridge Vineyards

Needless to say, when I replaced the i-MiEV by the 2017 BMW i3, I remained reluctant to drive the new car up the same mountain to Ridge.  I would only take the car up that mountain about 6 times a year (rather than weekly).  I would continue driving uphill carefully, hoping to learn how the battery would drain along the climb.  My speed went up because the i3 has 170 horsepower (2.7 times that of the i-MiEV) and weighs only 25% more.  The climb was much less stressful and took less time.  The rest of the time I would continue driving my older VW GTI up the hill, which was a hoot!  (Newer LFP EV batteries are less susceptible to this kind of degradation.)

One Sunday morning, the VW GTI would not start (the battery had died) and I was forced to take the 2017 BMW i3 up the mountain to Ridge.  I was planning to plod along as usual, but I soon spotted a coworker in my rearview mirror driving his Mustang turbo.  It didn’t take him long to be riding on my tail, so I adjusted my driving behavior.  Since the battery was certainly large enough to climb the mountain three times without any worry, I decided to have fun the remainder of the trip.  My car’s skinny front tires had me slowing noticeably for each sharp turn, but the blast of torque that launched the car out of the turns was as thrilling as the GTI was during the turns.  I was able to leave the Mustang behind as I left each turn and had a big smile upon arriving at the winery.  That one drive was probably the most fun I’ve had driving the i3.

Driving Home from the BMW Dealer in Los Angeles

My search for a low-milage 2019 BMW i3 (with all the goodies I wanted) ended in Calabasas, CA.  I flew south to pick up the car and planned my return drive home.  I would need to recharge twice along the 345-mile journey home, so I located two charging stations mid-route.  The first was in Solvang, about 115 miles away.  The second was in King City, 145 miles away (with no chargers between Paso Robles and King City).  That leaves just 85 miles to home.

My ride from the airport to the dealership was delayed by about 90 minutes, so as I was leaving, the Friday L.A. exodus had already begun and I was slogging through slower traffic along the drive to Santa Barbara.  Because of my slower speeds, the range estimator suggested I could drive about 190 miles on the charge.  I could have easily driven beyond Solvang to the next charger, but I hadn’t done the research for that, so I decided to stick to my original charging plan in Solvang.

The first leg of my journey.

After a bite to eat and a nearly full charge (96%), I was on my way again and set my sights on Paso Robles.  By this time traffic was much lighter and moving at the speed limit.  By the time I reached Paso Robles, I had 26 more miles of range than I needed to get to King City, so I felt confident I could make it all the way.  The drive was fairly level, but I neglected two considerations in my planning that impacted my journey.  First, once north of Paso Robles, the speed limit jumps to 70 MPH, which uses measurably more electricity than the slower speeds along the coast (55 to 65 MPH).  Second, I forgot about the winds through the valley on the way to King City.  At night, the winds blow strongly from north to south, meaning I was driving into a strong headwind.

The second (challenging) leg of my journey.

By the time I was 30 miles from King City, my margin of extra range had dropped from 26 miles to just 16 miles, so I limited my speed to 60 MPH (at night in a 70 MPH zone).  At 20 miles away, my margin had dropped to 10 miles, and wasn’t stabilizing.  I had to react more severely and put the car into “ECO-PRO+” mode, which limits speed to 56 MPH, dials back acceleration power, and turns off the HVAC and seat warmers.  My margin continued to drop.  When I was just 10 miles away, my margin had dropped to 7 miles and I reduced my speed to 50 MPH.  I was grateful that I was driving late in the evening and not facing much traffic, so driving slower wasn’t as risky.  By the time I pulled up to the DC-fast charger in King City, I had just 6 miles of range remaining, which was much closer to the edge than I ever care to get.  I charged up to 85% before driving the final stretch home, leaving me with an ample margin for the last stretch.

The final leg of my journey.

Since this trip I have learned to expect no more than 170 miles of range (with my conservative driving), and to dial back the expected range when driving along 70 MPH stretches.  In hindsight, I should have stopped in Paso Robles to charge up, and then again in Soledad, making for a much less stressful drive.  The extra time spent charging would have been only slightly longer than the extra time spent driving slowly on the freeway, and would have been both safer and more relaxing.

Replacing My 2017 BMW i3 with a 2019 BMW i3

I have enjoyed driving my 2017 BMW i3.  It has enough power to amuse me.  It is comfortably quiet, which makes long drives a little less taxing.  It’s spacious on the inside and compact on the outside.  (The places in San Francisco where I can park but others cannot…)  The seats are comfortable.  The rear seats fold flat and accommodate large items.  But, after driving the car for nearly five years, I have a list of wishes for improvement. 

My 2017 BMW i3 when new.

First on the wish list is a bigger battery so I can drive to more places without charging.  The 2019 BMW i3 introduced a battery that is 30% bigger.  I also miss leather seats and have trouble using the backup camera with the smaller display screen in my base car.  So, in 2022, I started looking at used car prices and milage on the 2019 BMW i3.  I noticed that a number of lease returns were showing up, many with very low milage.  (They were leased just prior to the pandemic lockdown and sat idle for much of the first three years.) 

I narrowed my choices down to three cars.  One was the i3s (for sport) model that included a more powerful motor and a sunroof, and wider tires.  It had 17,000 miles.  But I was concerned about how the sport enhancements would drain more power from the battery.  I also sat in another model with the sunroof on a hot summer day and found the extra heat radiated by the glass was uncomfortable and the opening was split into two small portals.  So, I passed on this car.  Next was an i3 (no sport) in LA where someone had removed the decorative strip above the doors.  It had just 12,000 miles.  I paid for the car after having it inspected, and the dealer sold it to someone else at the same time.  (They did refund my money.)  Then my plan-B car also sold, so I was without any good choices.  I would have to wait and keep searching.

Picking up my 2019 BMW i3

Finally, a 2019 i3 arrived at the Calabasas BMW dealer and was given a place-holder in their used car inventory.  I reached out before it was released for sale and learned it had everything I was looking for: rims, color, leather seats, tech package (for the bigger display), and only 14,000 miles.  They held the car for me, allowed me to have the car inspected professionally, and even arranged for an Uber driver to bring me from the airport to the dealership.  After a quick test-drive to confirm the car was as promised, I signed the sales contract, handed over the cashier’s check, and headed on my way home.  I was decidedly happy with the upgrades.  Even backing up is a better experience with the larger screen, as is navigating with the larger map.  Now all I had to do was drive it 345 miles to home.  (Yes, I would need to recharge twice.)

Charging my Cars and Battery Backup

My solar system was initially set up with Net Metering: energy produced was valued the same as energy consumed.  When charging my car, I would plug in at night during the off-peak rates and “use” the energy I generated during the day at peak rates.  With Net Metering, I was able to nearly break even on my yearly driving needs (until I added a second EV).  In order to expand my solar system, I was forced to switch from Net Metering to Net Billing, where energy produced is valued at wholesale rates.  To make solar more practical with Net Billing, the recommendation is to add a storage battery that allows the energy produced during the day to be consumed at night.

When determining the battery storage I would need, I considered the size of my car’s battery.  Clearly, a 12KWh house/solar battery would not meet the charging needs of my car’s 30KWh battery, so I opted to double the solar battery storage.  Now, if I charge the car when the charge level drops to 35%, I will use 19KWh of battery storage.  This allows me to charge every three days using only electricity generated by my solar panels.  This is useful because the car is usually not available for charging until after sunset.  (Unfortunately, the winter solar performance is a small fraction of the energy generated in summer, so I end up buying electricity to fill the gap.)

Charging during the day using battery and sunlight.

I liked the 2017 BMW i3 so much that I wanted to upgrade it.  The 2019 model includes a 42KWh battery, capable of driving 150 to 180 miles on a charge.  I also work from home now, so the newer BMW i3 spends a lot of time parked in the driveway during the day.  Because this car’s battery is so much larger than the house battery, I needed a different charging strategy.  On sunny days, the sun will generate up to 3.5KW of power from 10:00am to 3:00pm.  That amounts to over 17KWh of electricity generation.  If the house battery is already full, then the power bleeds onto the electrical grid at wholesale rates.  Instead, I plug in the newer BMW i3 and feed the excess electricity into the car’s battery.  The 17KWh from the panels and 19KWh from the house battery nearly fills the car’s battery nicely.  Unless I’m planning to drive a longer distance, I usually unplug around 80% charge, leaving more energy in the house battery for cooking dinner, lighting, and cooling the house.  If I wasn’t working from home, I’d have to use a different charging approach, such as more frequent short charges providing just enough energy to power my car through a day’s needs.

More Solar Capacity and an End to Net Metering

 I first installed solar panels on my new garage roof in 2009.  The six panels met the needs of my house by Net Energy Metering standards.  The NEM program credits you for any electricity you feed into the grid based on the rate you would pay if you drew energy from the grid at the same time. So, if I generated electricity during peak pricing hours, I would get a credit for that amount.  Then I would do laundry on the weekends during off-peak hours and get to use nearly two KWh for each KWh I generated.  This allowed me to bank excess power during the summer and draw against it during the winter.  My net electric bill for the year was under $50. 

In 2012, I bought the purple Mitsubishi i-MiEV and needed to generate more electricity to power the miles I would be driving.  I did some rough math and estimated four more panels would essentially cover most of my home EV charging needs.  The NEM program was still in effect, so again I was able to bank summer electricity for use in the winter.  My yearly cost for powering the house and charging the car with the new system remained under $100 and included nearly 10,000 miles worth of driving.

My original solar panels (in yellow) and my upgraded panels (in green)

In 2018, I bought the blue BMW i3 and passed the Mitsubishi onto my partner.  Between the two of us, we were driving nearly 20,000 miles a year.  In 2019, I replaced the main inverter on the original solar panels with microinverters, which improved their afternoon energy production by about 10%.  (I have a power/telephone pole next to my garage that casts a shadow across some of the panels.)  Still, I was running over my production by $600 to $800 a year.  So, I planned to add to the solar panels.  But my garage roof was now full, and I would have to put the panels on the main house roof.  But the house roof was installed in 1997 and had exceeded 25 years of age, so I would have to replace the roof before installing the new solar panels. 

Alas, I waited too long to get started on the roof replacement, so my NEM program was terminated when I upgraded my solar system.  Under the new solar program, I am credited the wholesale cost of any energy generation (not transmission), which is about 15% of what I pay for electricity.  I had eight new solar panels installed, each generating up to 410 watts.  (The original panels generate up to 230 watts.)  I also had to buy battery storage for the excess electricity I generate during the day to use after sunset.  The original recommendation was to install one house battery, with a new subpanel to dedicate some circuits for use when the power would go out.  Because I usually need to charge one of the cars at night, I realized one battery would not be enough.  By adding a second battery, I am able to meet most of my charging needs, and I was able to eliminate the electric subpanel, which paid for half of the second battery.  (Two batteries provide enough current to power the whole house – except for the A/C unit.)  I discovered the backup batteries were working one day when my next-door neighbor asked if my power was also out.  Power outages are much less stressful now.