Buying a used car can be risky but buying a used EV can lead to buying a huge lawn ornament. One thing to need to replace the battery but totally another to find out there are no replacement batteries.
Will be a long time to reach critical mass, if ever, for secondary makers of EV batteries like you do for ICE parts.
Annoying that the title makes it sound like a problem with all EVs, when they admit in the article that it is only some EVs, and a 2014 Ford Focus at that.
My used EV has increased in value by about 25% over the past six or so years I’ve owned it.
Is the key word here “used”? Did you buy a used EV at the bottom of the used EV car market and now enjoying an increase in value from those low used car prices. I have doubts it is 25% over new car price.
I have a 2007 Prius - bought 12 years and one month ago.
Last month, the High Voltage hybrid battery failed. Dealer mentioned that normal life for Prius hybrid batteries is 10-12 years - no matter how many miles you drive. I’ve got 69K miles on my car.
So I limp into the dealer. Thought he might have a battery to replace it - nope - it would take 3 weeks to get a new Prius battery. Car undrivable. Dash lit up like a xmas tree with warning lights for everything…
The repair came to $3200 including labor and the ‘part’ ($1800) and tax. Ouch!
Seems that’s a common ‘time bomb’ for Prius owners. It’s a NiMH battery - and not especially big. You use it with the ICE to get typically 42-44 mpg.
It’s a nice car. Still worth a lotta bucks.
But beware if you buy a Prius or other hybrid with a 9 or 10 or 11 year old battery. It’s going to die very very soon…
Mine lasted a few more years but didn’t put that many miles on the car.
Bought June 2008. Died June 2022. Now fixed and back to 42-44 mpg around town.
I’d hate to have to buy a $14,000 or $20,000 new battery at 10-12 years of life.
I don’t think people realize they’ve got to seriously devalue an EV with 10 years operating history b at least 10,000 bucks .
Is the key word here “used”? Did you buy a used EV at the bottom of the used EV car market and now enjoying an increase in value from those low used car prices. I have doubts it is 25% over new car price.
The key word is used, as per the thread title. I bought a used 2013 model in January 2017. A similar 2013 model today sells for about 25% more than I paid back then.
Annoying that the title makes it sound like a problem with all EVs, when they admit in the article that it is only some EVs, and a 2014 Ford Focus at that.
Like any new/evolving tech, hard to predict the winners early on that will still be around years later. Anyone still surfing the internet on their Wang?
I’d hate to have to buy a $14,000 or $20,000 new battery at 10-12 years of life.
I don’t think people realize they’ve got to seriously devalue an EV with 10 years operating history b at least 10,000 bucks .
Err, did you accidentally-intentionally add a zero to the end of your numbers? Even your own personal experience (as well as mine, being the original owner of an '06 Civic hybrid w/215k on the clock) says this is an order of magnitude too high…
A hybrid battery is a lot less expensive than a big EV battery
But even the Altima hybrid batteries are $6K plus. Per poster on thread.
You get a ‘plug in hybrid’ and they will be bigger and more expensive
The Prius battery is $1800 from Toyota plus hours to put in, reset everything. You can buy an aftermarket battery for $1400 with 1/3rd the warranty. Toyota warranty is 3 years/30,000 miles. Standard Prius. Get a plug in one (with 25 mile EV type range) and I’m sure that battery is way way up there in price.
My Prius hybrid battery lasted from June 2008 to June 2022. Longer than most Prius batteries according to the dealer - 10-12 years , despite the ‘Texas heat’. It’s even worse in Arizona.
You buy a 10 or 12 year old EV with original battery and you could face $15,000 to $25,000 replacement costs.
Of course, there’s very very few old EVs around that are ‘old’.
Like any new/evolving tech, hard to predict the winners early on that will still be around years later. Anyone still surfing the internet on their Wang?
How is that relevant? They bought a second hand 2014 car with 60,000 miles on it. The article is dated 18 Jul 2022, yesterday, eight, maybe nine years after the car model. The article ends with…
The Siwinski family’s first encounter with an electric vehicle was an utter disaster. It’s also a stark reminder that a used electric car might not be such a good idea. Once the 8-year/100,000-miles warranty is over, you’re on your own. This often means any problem with the battery will render your great car a junkyard material.
The 8 year guarantee is expired! Caveat Emptor, Buyer Beware.
In general, I don’t think battery replacements for second-hand cars should be a big issue, considering that the remaining health of the battery should be easily predictable. If you buy a ten-year-old car with 88% battery health remaining, its battery capacity should continue to decline slowly in a linear fashion. Frankly, looking at the battery statistics of Teslas (and their somewhat dubious build quality), the rest of the car will generally fall apart long before the battery becomes an issue.