Buying A Second Hand EV
Discussion
Yes, it is a monthly thing - but it goes on forever. It always seems to me that you're paying battery lease instead of petrol.
When you want to sell the car you are left with having to get someone to take on the battery lease with the car. Except the car is now older / cheaper and still subject ot £70/month or whatever.
Have you looked at the imiev/czero ? they are around £5K.
When you want to sell the car you are left with having to get someone to take on the battery lease with the car. Except the car is now older / cheaper and still subject ot £70/month or whatever.
Have you looked at the imiev/czero ? they are around £5K.
I get the viewpoint of the battery lease replacing a fuel bill but I currently spend around £200 a month on petrol. I can charge it for free at work so that drops my fuel bill to the battery lease alone.
Had a quick look at the Leaf but the Zoe seems more appealing. Plan is to run it for around 6 months and then get something else.
Had a quick look at the Leaf but the Zoe seems more appealing. Plan is to run it for around 6 months and then get something else.
We've got a fleet of Renault Zoes at work. All are from 2013 with no more than 25k miles on the clock. Range is about 50-60 miles max, so quite a lot of degradation on the batteries in not a lot of miles.
Mind you, they don't get treated very nicely (plugged in all the time unless in use), so that probably doesn't help the charge cycles. Nice car otherwise, and I quite enjoy driving them.
Mind you, they don't get treated very nicely (plugged in all the time unless in use), so that probably doesn't help the charge cycles. Nice car otherwise, and I quite enjoy driving them.
The battery degradation seems heavy on those. From what I’ve seen most private cars with that sort of mileage still manage 60-70 miles in winter and 90-100 miles in the summer.
I guess that’s where the battery lease comes in for private users, if the battery performance gets below 75% of the original figure then it will be replaced for free.
Off to view and test drive one tomorrow, will report back.
I guess that’s where the battery lease comes in for private users, if the battery performance gets below 75% of the original figure then it will be replaced for free.
Off to view and test drive one tomorrow, will report back.
Codswallop said:
We've got a fleet of Renault Zoes at work. All are from 2013 with no more than 25k miles on the clock. Range is about 50-60 miles max, so quite a lot of degradation on the batteries in not a lot of miles.
Mind you, they don't get treated very nicely (plugged in all the time unless in use), so that probably doesn't help the charge cycles. Nice car otherwise, and I quite enjoy driving them.
Might be worth getting the battery management firmware upgraded, there's a recent update which fixes early degradation (my 2016 car went from 88% health back to 100%)Mind you, they don't get treated very nicely (plugged in all the time unless in use), so that probably doesn't help the charge cycles. Nice car otherwise, and I quite enjoy driving them.
giblet, good choice. Same for any ZOE you buy. get the firmware checked and upgraded if necessary.
I posted this a while ago on another thread, might be relevant here...
We chopped in an aging Zafira family runabout for a Zoe 22 earlier this year. I got a 9 month-old car with 1600 miles (effectively new) for £7,300. That means someone took close to a £10k hit for the first ownership, ouch. Will values drop off a cliff from here? Mebbe. There are plenty for sale on the Renault website at very similar prices to 6 months ago, so it isn't a precipitate decline, but I would agree with earlier posters that the business model still needs some sorting out. I think it's likely that I would want to trade this one in for another Zoe, as it is the best car on the market in this sector, and Renault / Nissan have a hell of a head start on the tech, so it may well not be an issue.
Running costs are very low compared to the Zafira. Battery rental is £45 per month for us, and I reckon £15-£20 per month on electricity. Call it £65 per month, about the same as one tank of petrol; we used to fill up three or four times a month. And VED saving, and service consumables are far cheaper, regenerative braking means even brake pads will last longer, etc, etc.
Most importantly, it's a really well sorted, fun little car to drive. Around town and between villages, I think it's great. In the stable I also have an Audi A8, a 996, and a couple of motorbikes, so I don't need it to do everything, but what it does it does very well indeed.
Hope that helps you.
We chopped in an aging Zafira family runabout for a Zoe 22 earlier this year. I got a 9 month-old car with 1600 miles (effectively new) for £7,300. That means someone took close to a £10k hit for the first ownership, ouch. Will values drop off a cliff from here? Mebbe. There are plenty for sale on the Renault website at very similar prices to 6 months ago, so it isn't a precipitate decline, but I would agree with earlier posters that the business model still needs some sorting out. I think it's likely that I would want to trade this one in for another Zoe, as it is the best car on the market in this sector, and Renault / Nissan have a hell of a head start on the tech, so it may well not be an issue.
Running costs are very low compared to the Zafira. Battery rental is £45 per month for us, and I reckon £15-£20 per month on electricity. Call it £65 per month, about the same as one tank of petrol; we used to fill up three or four times a month. And VED saving, and service consumables are far cheaper, regenerative braking means even brake pads will last longer, etc, etc.
Most importantly, it's a really well sorted, fun little car to drive. Around town and between villages, I think it's great. In the stable I also have an Audi A8, a 996, and a couple of motorbikes, so I don't need it to do everything, but what it does it does very well indeed.
Hope that helps you.
Codswallop said:
We've got a fleet of Renault Zoes at work. All are from 2013 with no more than 25k miles on the clock. Range is about 50-60 miles max, so quite a lot of degradation on the batteries in not a lot of miles.
Mind you, they don't get treated very nicely (plugged in all the time unless in use), so that probably doesn't help the charge cycles. Nice car otherwise, and I quite enjoy driving them.
That is just about the worst way to treat them, they dont like being stored fully charged or fully depleted. I've seen cars with 50k+ miles showing very little sign of degradation (circa 7% over 3 yrs) if they are treated properly.Mind you, they don't get treated very nicely (plugged in all the time unless in use), so that probably doesn't help the charge cycles. Nice car otherwise, and I quite enjoy driving them.
A little late for the OP but the Zoe's are poorly built and the lease vehicles difficult to sell. The Leaf is much better build quality and residuals will hold much better as people realise the batteries aren't degrading as badly as everyone thought.
Some interesting replies. I had a look at the Nissan Leaf. There is around £2000 difference between the cheapest battery owned Leaf with same age and mileage as the Zoe I have purchased.
That £2000 equates to a lot of monthly battery payments. I get why people aren’t a fan of the battery leasing approach but I’m fine with it.
My boss has given me the go ahead on having a charging point installed at work. I won’t be charged for the electricity usage so that’s a big saving. There is a free to use 7kw charge point at a shopping complex 2 miles or so from my house so I will hold off on getting a home charge point fitted.
That £2000 equates to a lot of monthly battery payments. I get why people aren’t a fan of the battery leasing approach but I’m fine with it.
My boss has given me the go ahead on having a charging point installed at work. I won’t be charged for the electricity usage so that’s a big saving. There is a free to use 7kw charge point at a shopping complex 2 miles or so from my house so I will hold off on getting a home charge point fitted.
That’s a decent saving. The price difference I mentioned above is based on trade/private sellers, I imagine approved used ones are even more expensive. I’m happy with what I paid for the example I’ve purchased.
There are rumours of Renault allowing customers to buy out their batteries once they get to a certain age, it will be interesting to see if that actually happens. I’m planning to run the car for 6 months or so. If I get on with it then I may keep it for longer. In that time I should make a sizeable saving on my fuel costs which is handy.
Due to collect the car tomorrow afternoon. Had a quick look on PlugShare and there are quite a few free charge points on my route back including some faster ones.
There are rumours of Renault allowing customers to buy out their batteries once they get to a certain age, it will be interesting to see if that actually happens. I’m planning to run the car for 6 months or so. If I get on with it then I may keep it for longer. In that time I should make a sizeable saving on my fuel costs which is handy.
Due to collect the car tomorrow afternoon. Had a quick look on PlugShare and there are quite a few free charge points on my route back including some faster ones.
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