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Electric cars are a good choice for a used car for a number of reasons, including offering good value and reliability. Here’s a list of reasons why you should consider a Used EV:
Electric cars are good value because the first owners – to date, typically fleets – have taken the hit with initial depreciation, meaning that they’re more affordable for used car buyers. You can even get a used EV through salary sacrifice, saving up to 50% on monthly payments.
There are increasing numbers of new EVs, which is feeding through to increasing numbers of used EVs, giving a wide choice of makes, models, body styles and budgets. Green Car Guide’s Editor, Paul Clarke, has reviewed almost 350 electric cars since 2009 – that’s 350 different makes, models and updates that are available as used cars now, or in the imminent future. And of course the driving ranges of EVs are improving all the time – the average new EV has a range of over 300 miles, which is translating to used EVs.
Electric cars are much cheaper to fuel than petrol or diesel cars, especially for people who can charge them at home. An electric car also means that you’re not subject to the volatility of global oil supply and demand.
Petrol and diesel cars have powertrains with thousands of components. Electric cars have just three main powertrain components: a battery, an electric motor, and power electronics, and many fewer moving parts. This means that there’s less to go wrong with the powertrain of an electric car, and lower servicing bills. No engine oil changes are needed, and EVs very rarely need their brake disks replacing because they generally slow down by using the regenerative braking of the electric motors, not their brakes.
Most EVs come with long battery warranties, typically 8 years or 100,000 miles. EV batteries can be tested for their performance, they have also been proven to be reliable, and manufacturers have been improving the longevity of batteries. There are many EVs driving around that have covered over 100,000 miles, and even over 200,000 miles or more in some cases.
Electric cars generally come with higher levels of technology and equipment than petrol and diesel cars – for example, all EVs basically have automatic transmission, which makes them better and easier to drive, and there’s no manual gearbox or clutch to go wrong. Most EVs also come with technology such as apps that let you warm up the cabin and defrost the windscreen on a cold winter’s morning from the comfort of your home.
Electric cars are much quieter and more refined than petrol and diesel cars (and of course there’s no exhaust to replace).
Let’s remind ourselves of the main purpose of electric cars: they have no tailpipe emissions, so they don’t have a negative impact on climate change or air quality. You can charge EVs using a renewable energy tariff, and most electric cars will have paid back the majority of the CO2 emissions involved in their manufacture by the time they are bought as a second-hand car.
EVs can access the increasing number of Clean Air Zones in our towns and cities, which some petrol and diesel cars either can’t access or have to pay to enter – and this is even more of an important issue for vans.
