Yeah, that’s a destination charger. A relatively slow L2 charger, but fine if you’re staying overnight or if you’re topping off while shopping, etc. Kinda silly that they just have one, though.
Dewey_Finn is likely right that other chargers are available in the area. Most likely, they’ll only support L2 charging on Tesla (though in some places, there are third-party fast DC chargers that support the Tesla connector).
So the point?
An individual is unlikely be willing to buy a used EV if their specifics are such that a new EV is unattractive to them.
Shocker.
How much range does the used EV have? How does that fit my needs considering where I live and what charging infrastructure is for me? How cheap is it? How much do I want the new EV improvements?
Story of My Life
That’s the Supercharger station I discussed a few posts upthread. It’s in the parking lot of a Canadian Tire store, but those sell far more than just tires.
Typical location for a Supercharger to be in a retail parking lot, since the charging customers can take advantage of the already existing restrooms and eating establishments. Imagine how slow the charging network would be expanding if Tesla had to build all that stuff in addition to the chargers.
We bought a 2019 Nissan Leaf in March this year. It had 27K miles on the clock, so fairly lightly used.
The manual says its range is 160 miles. On full charge now it tells us 150-158 depending on how efficiently we’ve been driving lately, so a slight degradation. This range is very dependent on speed - if I try to go over 70mph on the motorway range falls rapidly due to drag-related inefficiency. But that’s not typically an issue because…
The app tells me we have driven 5834 miles in it over 1286 trips so our average trip is only 4.6 miles - very typical for the UK. This is basically a combination of pootling into town, and regular 60-90 mile round trips to seem family or visit the big city. During which I drive on the motorway at 65-70.
Unsurprisingly, over 90% of our charging is done at home, overnight. That’s now that we have the home charger installed. Before that, and on long trips, it takes c.40 mins using a 50KW DC charger.
Charger voltages are on the up, even in teh time we’ve had the car - it used to be about half 22KW and 50KW, now 50KW is more common and there are more 65 and 70KW appearing.
We’ve had two long trips, both to far-flung parts of Scotland where infrastructure in general and charging stations in particular are thinly spread. This required a bit of journey planning, but we were able to get there without excessive range anxiety or failing to find a working charger where expected. (I’ve had more panic-inducing range anxiety in fossil fuel cars in that part of the world). On these trips we charged to 100% - not something you should all the time, but not something you should never do either. An out of the ordinary long trip justifies it, IMO.
There was a time in my life when a pit stop on a long trip would be a 5 min fuel up, a quick toilet trip and a hasty purchase of a sandwich and bag of crisps to get me back on the road - with a family I’d long since noticed that every stop was a minimum of 30 mins so taking 40 to charge while having a coffee and watching the boats come through the loch at Fort Augustus isn’t nowadays any meaningful addition to expected journey time.
We are planning a holiday to the south coast of England next year, c. 450/500 miles driving, and we will be hiring a petrol car for that because doing it in c.100 mile hops will add a lot of time to the journey. Don’t mind doing this once a year.
Based on the alternative of replacing the old diesel with a similar model, I estimate I’ve saved £200 in fuel costs.
So in sum, given our driving patterns, a used EV works for us. At some point in the future we will either upgrade to a newer second-hand with better range, or possibly install a better battery if/when that tech becomes viable.
Overall utility of EVs aside, I would think buying a used EV is LESS concerning than buying a used ICE. EVs have far fewer moving parts, far fewer items that will wear out and require replacement, far less reliance on regularly scheduled maintenance.
The big concern is the battery, and that thing is constantly monitored by the car, which will give you a real time evaluation of the battery’s fitness for use. Unlike my current car which, when I bought it, was way overdue for a timing belt change, that could have destroyed the engine with absolutely no warning.
I thought “supercharger stations” meant only ones from Tesla. Isn’t it a trademarked brand name?
Yes, it is. But the Regina Tesla Supercharger station is in the Canadian Tire parking lot. There may be other non-Tesla chargers there as well, I don’t know. Or maybe Google reported the Tesla ones even though you asked for non-Tesla. It’s been known to do that kind of thing.
Yes, I would buy a used EV. I don’t need a huge amount of range, I don’t typically take long road trip, and I have a garage where I can charge overnight. If the car hypothetically had say 230 miles of range when new, and now has 200 miles, that’s still more than enough for me. I’m not in the market for another car anytime soon, but there’s a good chance my next car will be electric, and I would definitely consider a used one.
I actually bought a used iPhone years ago, and it’s the same deal. It probably doesn’t have the battery life it did when new, but for my usage it’s good enough.
Question: I know the tax credit for EV purchases from Inflation Reduction Act comes with a requirement that the car be built in the US, so there aren’t many cars that qualify (and it disqualifies the Polestar, my favorite EV). And the tax credit is available for used EVs as well. Does the requirement that it be built in the US also apply to used EVs? I mean, purchasing a used vehicle doesn’t really create any manufacturing jobs (except maybe indirectly). If I could get a used Polestar and get the tax credit that would be a pretty sweet deal.
One nice thing about used EVs is that you can expect them to perform pretty mich the same as a new EV, except for a slight battery reduction.
No cylinders with bad compression, no worn out spark plugs or tune-ups needed, no rings to wear and rob power and blow blue smoke, nomhard starting problems, no dirty injectors, no worn clutches or flakey transmissions or stuck PCV valves or a millions things in an ICE car that can can make a used car less performant and reliable than a new one.
Actually, they are quite different. All else being equal, EVs are much heavier than equivalent ICE vehicles, so struts, axle joints and other suspension components will wear out quicker. Brakes are likely a wash because more weight means more pad wear, but EVs mostly use regenerative braking anyway. The interesting thing is that other than the battery, EV drivetrains should last far longer than ICE drivetrains. Only one moving part in the motor, no complicated gearbox, simpler differentials (or none at all), and so on. In theory, a modern brushless electric motor will never require a rebuild. So while the economic case for a 7 year old EV is questionable, the economic case for a 20 year old vehicle might be excellent.
ETA: Sam made a very similar point above.
EV brakes last far longer than standard ICE brakes. Not sure where you got that idea from. But no argument with the rest of that.
Only if they are not designed for the extra weight. I would assume that they are without other evidence. You did say “all else being equal”, but is that true? If I were designing an EV, the effect of battery weight would be an obvious thing to design for.
Also, batteries cut both ways. Yes, they make the car heavier, but they also lower the center of gravity dramatically, reducing body roll and stress on the components that resist body roll.
While weight-saving is certainly a focus in BEV design, there’s only so much they can do. Batteries weigh (literally) a ton. A 2023 Nissan Leaf weighs 3,500 pounds. A 2023 Sentra - seven inches longer and one inch wider (but four inches lower in height) - weighs 3,000 pounds. The point about body roll is an interesting one, but I don’t think it makes much difference. At best, it would mean peak loads are slightly reduced in electric cars but median loads will still be considerably higher. And not all electric cars are build with a skateboard battery arrangement so the center of gravity won’t be lower in all cases.
The parts in any case are sized for the loads. This isn’t the 1950s where engineers are told to grab any old component off the shelf and use it.
Now there is room for the manufacturers to discover they over- or under-built, say the A-arm or its bushings or whatever versus actual driving loads. Not as likely as it was before modern engineering software codes cam in, but possible. That could break either way, the corresponding ICE part being the less or the more durable versus the EV part. Experience will tell and anything else is preliminary.
Sure would. And just like buying an ICE car, I’d research the crap out of it first.
I’d not buy a Nissan Leaf because they continue to use air-cooled batteries instead of liquid-cooled, and not a particularly effective air-cooling method, so the batteries can experience extreme heat in the summer and this will affect longevity.
I’d not buy a Tesla because the person in charge of it is a screaming psychopath who could, on a whim, decide that features I paid for are no longer available and remove my ability to use them. As he has done with Autopilot for people buying the vehicle used. Or releasing software updates that cause battery errors, and then tell you that you need to pay 15 - 20k for a battery replacement.
I’d not buy a Hummer because – besides not being able to afford a 100k vehicle – it’s actually less efficient than most ICE vehicles (it uses more carbon per mile than to drive a gasoline-engine car).
This, for me. I didn’t know much about him until he bought Twitter. Having seen his « management » style, I don’t think I’d buy anything from him that needs long-term support from the dealer.
I recently read that it is possible to test the battery and estimate how much life is left. I don’t know how to find a tester though.
And I have a question. If it is best to charge to only 80% can you set it up charging overnight in your garage and turn off when it hits 80%. I don’t do long distance driving any more so range doesn’t matter to me. And my condo has arranged for adding a charger at my parking space (at my expense of course). My current car is 16 years old and I don’t know how long it will last but I would be interested in an EV if I have to replace it.
Yes. Tesla, and probably every other EV, has a slider that sets the maximum charge point. Crank it up to 100% if you need to go on a trip; keep it at ~80% otherwise. You can do this in the phone app as well if the need occurs to you when you’re already snug in bed.
Check me if I’m wrong, but I’m assuming that it’s fast charging over 80% that’s the problem, and trickle charging to 100% should be okay.