Discussion
I've done some browsing here and on other EV forums, and would appreciate individual experience/advice from those who've done what I'm thinking of doing.
Mrs TartanPaint is moving offices and is currently using my Scooby to get to the park and ride, but the new office will require a car for about 33 miles/day on mixed roads and some stop-start traffic.
I think an EV would be a great solution for lots of reasons, but I want to do it on a budget so the rest of the fleet doesn't need to be sacrificed.
Used 2015 Zoes are under £7k for a Dynamic Nav, or about £10k for a i-Dynamic (battery owned).
The sums work out marginally better for the rental battery because of the much cheaper purchase price, even accounting for any excess miles we might do, so I think a £6-7k 2015 mid-spec Zoe will be a fun first step into EV ownership.
Has anyone bought a used Zoe, and are there any issues to look out for, or any reason to look at something else instead?
I know that's all a bit vague, but basically I'm just after a sanity check. Am I mad? Are they fun little commuters, or tiny plasticy garbage? Have used Zoes depreciated so far for any reason other than the battery rentals putting people off? Where do you think used values will bottom out? If I spend £6k on a battery rental model, will it be worth £4k or 50p in two years time?
Any and all thoughts and experiences much appreciated.
Thanks!
Mrs TartanPaint is moving offices and is currently using my Scooby to get to the park and ride, but the new office will require a car for about 33 miles/day on mixed roads and some stop-start traffic.
I think an EV would be a great solution for lots of reasons, but I want to do it on a budget so the rest of the fleet doesn't need to be sacrificed.
Used 2015 Zoes are under £7k for a Dynamic Nav, or about £10k for a i-Dynamic (battery owned).
The sums work out marginally better for the rental battery because of the much cheaper purchase price, even accounting for any excess miles we might do, so I think a £6-7k 2015 mid-spec Zoe will be a fun first step into EV ownership.
Has anyone bought a used Zoe, and are there any issues to look out for, or any reason to look at something else instead?
I know that's all a bit vague, but basically I'm just after a sanity check. Am I mad? Are they fun little commuters, or tiny plasticy garbage? Have used Zoes depreciated so far for any reason other than the battery rentals putting people off? Where do you think used values will bottom out? If I spend £6k on a battery rental model, will it be worth £4k or 50p in two years time?
Any and all thoughts and experiences much appreciated.
Thanks!
My concern with a battery-owned i model is that selling in a few years at 4-5 years old, nobody will want the risk of an ageing battery with no warranty on it. The rented batteries have some assurance that they will be replaced. I think I agree that a 2 year old car is more desirable with no battery rent, but a 4-5 year old car might not be when I'm finished with it. To mitigate that, I have to depreciate a very large chunk of the £10k i-model over 2-3 years, and then the monthly sums just stop working due to the insane depreciation. Might as well lease a new one. Which defeats the whole purpose of a cheap used EV.
I guess it's going to be a gamble either way.
Thanks.
I guess it's going to be a gamble either way.
Thanks.
TooLateForAName said:
I'd say that selling a used battery rental in a couple of years will be hard work.
They only replace it if it falls to something like 70%. Remember that even battery owned have a warranty on the battery.
On speakEV battery rental cars have to be very cheap to sell. and as they get older they get almost impossible to sell because the rental is still at 'new' rates.
I think that the sensible choices are either buy new on PCP or buy used battery owned. I'd expect some very good prices on the current Leaf with the new model about to arrive.
I didn't know there was a warranty on owned batteries. I'll look into that, thanks. That could make it all add up.They only replace it if it falls to something like 70%. Remember that even battery owned have a warranty on the battery.
On speakEV battery rental cars have to be very cheap to sell. and as they get older they get almost impossible to sell because the rental is still at 'new' rates.
I think that the sensible choices are either buy new on PCP or buy used battery owned. I'd expect some very good prices on the current Leaf with the new model about to arrive.
Edited by TooLateForAName on Friday 27th October 11:47
I'm not getting good offers on carwow for new Leaf. Getting bonkers discounts offered on a new Zoe though. New 40s are £17k for a battery-owned i-Dynamique Nav!
lost in espace said:
We had a Zoe sent it back early, now have 2 Leafs. Leaf is a better, bigger car. A 2015 24kwh car with 15-20k will be about £8k. My wife commutes 35 miles a day in hers. Saves a fortune in fuel. If you buy a rental battery Zoe you might have to give it away, although there was talk of the batteries being handed over to owners.
£8k would be for a rental battery Leaf though, no?There's also the problem that the Leaf is extremely ugly, and would be a hard sell to the Mrs. I agree the Leaf is the better car, but will cost more to buy, more to run and starts to make a 1.0 Fiesta look more appealing.
Thanks all. I've ditched the idea of an EV for now. The savings are just not there, new or used, battery-owned or leased. Nothing adds up. Purchase prices new and used are exciting at first glance, but the total running cost spreadsheet says no due to the terrible depreciation or battery rental or both.
I will keep revisiting every few months and see what happens to used prices, Renault rental buy-outs etc.
Thanks again!
I will keep revisiting every few months and see what happens to used prices, Renault rental buy-outs etc.
Thanks again!
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