Considering used EV - viable?
- Thread starter andrew_j
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Best value if you are OK with a small vehicle is the Bolt. At least it's fairly upright so you don't feel like you're a tiny car. As a bonus if you buy a used one if the battery has been replaced under the recall the 8-year, 100k-mile warranty started over on the replacement date so that's pretty awesome.
I’d avoid the EVs without liquid cooled batteries so the Leaf is out. e-golf, 500e, focus electric, are out as well. Although is anyone really buying any of those at this point? I do see them on the used market for cheap though!
I’d avoid the EVs without liquid cooled batteries so the Leaf is out. e-golf, 500e, focus electric, are out as well. Although is anyone really buying any of those at this point? I do see them on the used market for cheap though!
I still see many Leafs fan on the road and they sell quickly as used vehicles. My area has moderate temperatures and relatively short commutes.
I’d happily buy a Leaf of any age if the battery had some life left in it. Other locations would be less desirable for these vehicles.
If OP can get free charging… I’m not sure what electricity costs in NH as the wife pays the bill, but it has to be at least 20c/kWh. I think that puts EV cheaper per mile? gas is what, $3.10?
Ok wife sent me our last bill. $96 for 433kWh. 22c/kWh. May be different on the coast. (ftr 2/3 was delivery charge!)
I don’t see many first gen Leafs on the road. I do always see them at level 2 chargers though!
Wildly depends on the car of course. I'm not sure what the EV6 efficiency numbers are, but it should be good for $0.03-$0.05 a mile to drive. I do have some free charging here, but it's just more convenient to plug in at home. With my cars I'd still have to get fuel well under $2 a gallon to match it and I get 32-35 mpg pretty consistently. That's also assuming I'm getting more like 230 miles out of the Tesla instead of the rated 272 and considering the whole battery capacity of 62kWh charging at $0.14(all taxes/fees in $0.17) a kW and then rounding that up to an even dollar amount to help account for losses.
I do benefit from low rates here overall and that definitely changes per area. It also doesn't figure that I'm using premium in the VW, just base cost of fuel to move the car to match it. With our $3.79 regular fuel here it would take around 85mpg to match it. I can see why in certain areas this doesn't make sense for some people.
Your bill is crazy that you see that much in fees. Ours was $152.80 for 896kWh. Beyond charging the car, all our appliances are electric except for the heat and the water heater. 150-200kWh would probably be the car alone. I'd have to dig more into the app and see if I can break it down date to date to match the same time period.
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Many of the early EVs were purchased for carpool lane access. It only last like 2-3 years so you sort of have to keep leasing one. Not bad at all when you have free charging at work and loss leader discount. I knew a few technicians at work who rented eGolf for like $150 / month back in the 2016 or so, and they would have to pay that much in gas anyways.
These days you only get 1/2 price HOV lane access and that really isn't worth it anymore. The only reason to get an EV is the fun factor and free charging (3 hours usually in large companies) at work and the $5-6/gal gas price.
It's better than I thought, I see our rate went down from 12.6c to 8.2 recently. But then the fees...
No electric elements in our house, stove and drier are gas, heat and hot water are oil. But my son likes his video games, and I usually leave my PC's on, so that probably doesn't help. Bill likes to double in the summer with a/c usage. Those are the ouch months.
So if the OP can get free charging... I can see how that would be enticing.
It was theoretically up to 3 years of HOV access, but the federal law that allows the state to do that expires on Sept 30, 2025 without any indication of whether or not it will be renewed. Then it would require state legislative action, although I would think that would be easier than Congress.
For the first time since 1999, carpool lanes in California will likely soon be reserved for carpools only.
Barring congressional action, come Sept. 30, 2025, the maroon, green and yellow stickers allowing electric, plug-in hybrid and compressed natural gas vehicles to use the carpool lanes — regardless of the number of occupants — will expire, along with federal authorization to let them into the diamond lanes.
Mine is starting to feel pretty honest at only $0.024 kWh being the fee total over the actual quoted rate. They had some fun coming up with your bill breakdown, geez! All in you're paying $0.05 more per kW. It's we need an actual truth in billing across power companies. I never understood why many had a problem with my quoted rate. I get it now. Your actual billed amount is 2.5x what your per kW rate is quoted at. Wild.
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From the research I did the LFP batteries (in the more recent Tesla 3's and some others) are rated for around 4k to 4.5k full charge cycles. At approximately 250 miles usable range you're looking at over 1M miles possible on those batteries. However, LFPs aren't optimal where it gets highly cold, on the flip side they don't suffer as much charged to 100%. Even the older tech NMC/NCA batteries are showing they are good at 1.5k to 2k full charge cycles (300k to 500k miles), these should only be charged to 80% but are more energy dense and take cold weather better. You also have to consider calendar aging in addition to the usage factor, but that can be maximized by storing at less than a full charge. Best of luck!
There are always a lot of moving parts. One is setting the floor and the ceiling for a particular model just using software in order to improve the average longevity. Tesla has temporarily enabled longer range during disasters.
Tesla certainly doesn't give the LiFePO4 equipped vehicles a longer warranty. Those are the base models with lower mileage battery warranties.
That's why I like the LFP so much. I may just drive it for my commuter if I ever get to the point of attempting the 5 cylinder DAZA swap which would be the perfect GTI. Golf Rs have been done and I know it would take a little fabricating in the rear to add the AWD setup out of the Audi RS3, where it's direct bolt on for the AWD R. I can dream, right?
Sorry, sidetracked hard there. I like the idea for the LFP because of the way I would use it. I'd just get home from work and charge it to 100% all the time. I drive far enough that it'll never sit about 60% when parked otherwise and I think it would be a better use of vehicles to buy my wife the next new car again and just let the Model 3 rack up miles. It's not the fast car, but it's quick enough and I find it pleasant to drive. I've heard they're slower in the cold to charge, but I can't imagine that's too much trouble for an already warm battery. I've never Supercharged without being on the road for extended periods of time and I have 240V in an enclosed garage for home charging and it was fine even on 120V in those situations. They theoretically should suffer a bit more with power transfer in extreme cold, I just haven't had the worst case scenario happen with it yet. The test will be leaving work on a -20 day and it's been cold soaking for 30+ hours in the parking lot. It's only 35 miles home most of the time, but there's no chargers in between in my closest run. The closest Supercharger is 20 miles in the wrong direction.
That’s what is appealing about some EVs. Relatively low miles , 50% depreciation, priced in mid 20s used, and free charging in our use case.
I don't get free charging but it still works out to about 2 cents a mile.
In light of the used EV question above, here is some Tesla long term battery degradation information. Fascinating stuff for nerds like me. Interestingly, the majority of degradation happens in the first 20K miles on many models.
