Cheap EV run about ? - Page 1 - EV and Alternative Fuels

12:03

If you were going to buy a really cheap EV for a city run around second or third car, what would you go for? Aiming to spend 5/6k or less, not to do too many miles, cheap to tax/insure, reliable, zero maintenance, and so on. Range not a big deal. Do 1-2k miles a year.

The very cheapest would be an early higher miles Nissan Leaf for 1-2k. But what about degradation?

For newer/lower miles you could buy something like a Citreon C-Zero or Mitsibushi Miev for 2.5-5k depending on how old/low mileage you go. But these are first gen EVs now and seem quite compromised?

Alternatively you could get something more up-to-date but higher mileage and a bit more complicated - would an early 2014/2015 i3 with 60-100k miles for 5/6k be a bad idea?

What's the sweet spot?

NDA

24,573 posts

247 months

12:15

I don't have any particular suggestions - but I watched this earlier. A 277,000 mile Tesla still going strong. It cost him £5k, so there are cars out there.

https://youtu.be/WLwj9q8dadM

8,734 posts

52 months

12:25

£5/6k gets you a decent 30kwh Leaf. Can't see past that myself. Will have suffered some battery degradation, yes, and will probably go at least 80 miles on a charge undermost circumstances.

PrinceRupert

Original Poster

11,599 posts

107 months

12:30

Skodillac said:

£5/6k gets you a decent 30kwh Leaf. Can't see past that myself. Will have suffered some battery degradation, yes, and will probably go at least 80 miles on a charge undermost circumstances.

Is there a mileage you should aim to be under? Is there an easy way to check battery life? Seems to be plenty of decent looking ones between 60-100k at 3-3.5k.

98elise

31,248 posts

183 months

12:34

i3. A great car for the money.

lost in espace

6,462 posts

229 months

12:35

Skodillac said:

£5/6k gets you a decent 30kwh Leaf. Can't see past that myself. Will have suffered some battery degradation, yes, and will probably go at least 80 miles on a charge undermost circumstances.

I did 80k in one of these, awful battery chemical composition.

8,734 posts

52 months

12:36

PrinceRupert said:

Skodillac said:

£5/6k gets you a decent 30kwh Leaf. Can't see past that myself. Will have suffered some battery degradation, yes, and will probably go at least 80 miles on a charge undermost circumstances.

Is there a mileage you should aim to be under? Is there an easy way to check battery life? Seems to be plenty of decent looking ones between 60-100k at 3-3.5k.

How it has been charged is probably more important than mileage, going by what those in the know say. The recommendation is to get a code reader dongle thing and an app called LeafSpy.

I took a 30kwh Leaf from 20k to 50k miles before trading it up for a 40kwh. In that time it lost one of its 12 battery health bars but it didn't affect range too much. I was still getting a reliable 100-120 miles. Get one with as many battery bars showing as possible within your budget I'd say.

P675

695 posts

54 months

12:39

If you could lease a Dacia Spring for £120 a month that might be a good option. I would personally not want to own an old (old meaning out of warranty) EV in case of expensive failure, even if it was cheap to begin with.

8,734 posts

52 months

12:43

lost in espace said:

Skodillac said:

£5/6k gets you a decent 30kwh Leaf. Can't see past that myself. Will have suffered some battery degradation, yes, and will probably go at least 80 miles on a charge undermost circumstances.

I did 80k in one of these, awful battery chemical composition.

Yes, compared to more recent EVs. Of course. But it's not a show stopper, and what alternatives exist at the OP's budget? Not much.

Phunk

2,084 posts

193 months

12:55

Skodillac said:

lost in espace said:

Skodillac said:

£5/6k gets you a decent 30kwh Leaf. Can't see past that myself. Will have suffered some battery degradation, yes, and will probably go at least 80 miles on a charge undermost circumstances.

I did 80k in one of these, awful battery chemical composition.

Yes, compared to more recent EVs. Of course. But it's not a show stopper, and what alternatives exist at the OP's budget? Not much.

As an owner of a 30kw leaf, I would go for a good 24 or high mileage 40 leaf instead. The 30 battery is pants.

If I was to do it again I'd probably go for an i3 for Hyundai Ionic, Chademo chargers are getting increasingly hard to find. Plus the cheapest chargers (Tesla) are CCS only.

PrinceRupert

Original Poster

11,599 posts

107 months

13:02

I've had an MG4 on lease for three years (goes back in June) and I've literally never used a public charger. So not too worried about that. The reason I'm not going to do another lease is I've only done 5.5k miles - figure rather than the £350 a month on lease (albeit including tax/insurance) I could probably run an old EV for half that or less. Though, persuading myself not to buy an M3 or an XJR is the challenge wink

8,734 posts

52 months

13:03

Phunk said:

Skodillac said:

lost in espace said:

Skodillac said:

£5/6k gets you a decent 30kwh Leaf. Can't see past that myself. Will have suffered some battery degradation, yes, and will probably go at least 80 miles on a charge undermost circumstances.

I did 80k in one of these, awful battery chemical composition.

Yes, compared to more recent EVs. Of course. But it's not a show stopper, and what alternatives exist at the OP's budget? Not much.

OP wants an occasional city runabout, very few miles, I'm presuming he can charge at home. Public charging/Chademo isn't a consideration in this context.

There aren't many £5k Ioniqs and i3s about.

sixor8

7,692 posts

290 months