Used Electric Car?

[jyl]

I can see needing to replace the old Prius in the next year or two. I'm thinking about an electric car. Criteria is decent range, enough to comfortably drive around town for a few days (100 would do it), not too expensive, and available used. I don't buy new cars, the depreciation makes no sense to me.

Any good choices?

Early Tesla S? CPO i3 with RX?

[petrolhead611]

The I3 ,or electric clown car, doesn't have a great deal of room in it. The range, isn't great. even with the auxiliary motor . It's expensive used over here ; I bought a new Hyundai Ioniq hybrid for less than I could get a nearly new I3 Rex for.

[wdfifteen]

A used electric could be a good deal. They depreciate steeply and as far as I know all of them are good cars. Gas/electrics seem to do a little better, but they have unlimited range so don’t threaten you with range anxiety. You can get a 3 year old Volt just off lease for half the original selling price.

[stuartj]

This is an interesting question. We are a car forum. We grind valves, adjust mixture, rebuild diffs and gboxs, profile cams. Or at least we understand these ideas.

WhoTF knows what a used electric car might be worth?

[asphaltgambler]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

A used electric could be a good deal. They depreciate steeply and as far as I know all of them are good cars. Gas/electrics seem to do a little better, but they have unlimited range so don’t threaten you with range anxiety. You can get a 3 year old Volt just off lease for half the original selling price.

Without a doubt, the correct answer^^^^^^^^

[porsche4life]

Second the recommendation for a volt. Have been doing reading on them, and I think that’s what our next commuter car will be.

[Steve Carlton]

When I sold my 2017 Volt last August I got around $23,500 for it and put about $800 in my pocket after paying off the lease. It was 1.5 yrs old with 16,000 miles on it. I checked with the dealer I got it from and could have purchased an equivalent new 2018 for about $22,500 net of all the tax credits and rebates. The used market on them was (don't know about now) too high. There were even bids from dealers like Carmax, Carvana, and Vroom willing to pay me around $22,500. So, with a Volt, at least get a benchmark on what a new one would run. Mine should have been worth around $18K selling it privately.

About 6 months ago I saw incredible leases on 4-5K mile BMW i3s. I think the cash to start the lease would have come back in tax credits except for about $1,000 and the payments were in the range of $190/mo + tax. This was a $48-49K MSRP i3, too.

[wdfifteen]

If you're looking for value, a low mileage generation 1 Volt is a decent choice. $14 - $15k for a 50k miles car. We had two and really liked them. The only reason we don't still have them is when we retired we didn't need so many vehicles so we sold both gen 1 Volts and bought a gen 2.

[biosurfer1]

We have a bunch of electric vehicles in our company fleet and with talking to the facilities guys who maintain them, it's pretty amazing and how reliable the electric car drive trains are. The rest of the car has the typical problems here and there, but the electric motor and transmissions seem to be reliable...like very, very reliable. I suppose it's just an electric motor with one moving part so really what can go wrong but at least if you buy a used electric car, sounds like one less thing to worry about.

I'm personally looking at buying a used EV for my next car...something about no more oil changes, oil filters, air filters, timing belts, spark plugs, radiator flushes, etc really appeals to me as a daily driver. I have the 968 for fun on the weekends, I want my daily drivers to be a dumb appliance that gets me to/from work without any hassle.

[Steve Carlton]

The only issue is the battery replacement.

[berettafan]

How is it the Volt only manages 53 miles on a charge and the tesla can get 5 times that?

OP it looks like the $7500 credit on a new EV ends this month and goes to half that.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by berettafan

How is it the Volt only manages 53 miles on a charge and the tesla can get 5 times that?

OP it looks like the $7500 credit on a new EV ends this month and goes to half that.

Battery size

Volt 18.4 kwh
Tesla 75 or 85

I rhink rhe rebates haven't changed for the entire market. Tesla has hit the 200,000 limit so they start losing the credit.

[berettafan]

So if buying used why not just go with a hybrid?

[expatriot98]

Originally Posted by berettafan

How is it the Volt only manages 53 miles on a charge and the tesla can get 5 times that?

OP it looks like the $7500 credit on a new EV ends this month and goes to half that.

The Volt has an ICE so no range anxiety. We get about 40 miles on the battery. Charge time on 110V is ~8 hours so an overnight charge gets us almost anywhere in the city.

[id10t]

VW Bug or Bus w/ electric conversion - or hell go crazy with a 356, 912, 914, etc.

ZELECTRIC MOTORS

heck for that matter get one of the JPS replicas and power it with 'lectric

[jhynesrockmtn]

Will used Volt values go down with GM announcing they are killing it off?

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by berettafan

So if buying used why not just go with a hybrid?

A plug-in hybrid like the Volt would be a good idea. It can run as an electric-only vehicle for ~50 miles. If your trips are usually short each day, this means little to no gasoline usage. Just recharge at night as needed. As mentioned above, the price for a 3-year old one is pretty good, much better than a used Tesla. If this fits your needs, John, then there you go!

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by jhynesrockmtn

Will used Volt values go down with GM announcing they are killing it off?

GM will still support the vehicles they’ve sold.

[jhynesrockmtn]

GM will still support the vehicles they’ve sold.

Makes sense that they would, just curious as to any perceptions changing with potential used buyers regarding value. I'll keep a close eye on them as they seem like a good option as a next vehicle for the type of driving I do daily.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by jhynesrockmtn

Will used Volt values go down with GM announcing they are killing it off?

They are stopping production of the sedan body. There are rumors that the Voltech system will be used in a crossover SUV in 2021 or 2022.