Everything you need to know before buying a cheap used electric electric

Buying a used electricity is less risky than purchasing a combustion -used car: there are much less components that may damage. It should pay attention to some details, but the most important thing is the battery. Fortunately, there is the soh soh, the health condition of the battery – and ways to test it.

Buy a Used electric car It scares many drivers: some really refuse to try, others find it risky, some guarantee their feet together that is crazy.

But there are those who have already done the experience and make sure it is the best decision you ever made. Quentin Willson It is one of them.

British journalist and television producer was a presenter of the auto programs Britain’s Worst Driver, Fifth Gear and the original version of the Top Geare Fifteen years has been driving electric vehicles for. It goes to its seventh different model, and says it has never had problems.

In an article at, Willson ensures that buying a used electric is much wiser than you think, and explains the essential rules for making a good purchase.

Simplified driving

According to Willson explains, buy a VE used It’s less risky than purchasing a used car with a combustion engine, because there is a lot of Less components that may be damaged. An electric traction system has about 20 moving piecescompared to more than 200 in a gasoline or diesel vehicle.

In clutch, gearbox control units, fuel pumps, exhaust gas recirculation valves… list of problems Possible in combustion engines seems endless.

Meanwhile, several studies show that OS WE ADD LESS than the cars with combustion engine.

A Maintenance of a VE It involves replacing the cabin filter, changing the liquid with brakes every three years and running the tires to standardize wear. And that’s all, because there is very few components subject to friction.

As soon as we begin to understand how simple the mechanics of an EV, we begin to know which we should pay attention. And, as everyone, or almost all we guessed, the most important is the battery. This is the biggest concern for those who buy a VE used.

In fact, there are currently data from thousands of millions of kilometers that show that the Lithium -ion battery failure It is, in fact, very low.

Most of them come with a battery warranty eight years or 150,000 km. In most cases, if the Capacity fall below 70% Within these limits, the battery will be Free replaced.

Willson has already conducted an electric Out of warranty, with 400,000 km In the original batteries, which still maintain good load and autonomy. Currently, most experts agree that The battery of an EV lasts longer than the chassis of the car.

A study of the esteem that the Average life of a battery be 320.000 km; and a battery analysis of 10,000 vehicles, driven by, showed a loss of capacity to 10% over 10 years. In the same period, a combustion engine also loses efficiency due to mechanical wear.

What you should observe

Most of the dealers provide the Certificate of Health of the battery (soh), and Many electricals have their own softwarewhich allows the owner to verify the state of the battery. Willson did this in his Tesla at 80,000 kmand found that it still had 93% capacity.

If you buy your VE at a dealer, make sure you are provided the SOH certificate. If it is a private sale, check battery capacity in a specialized service. In Portugal there are several services, such as A or A, which allow you to consult the battery Soh in 15 minutes.

Any SOH value around 90% means that the battery still has a lot of life, since in many models the degradation of cells stabilizes from that point.

There are, however, some exceptionsstresses Quentin Willson.

The initial version of the Nissan Leaf He had problems with battery cooling, and loses autonomy and ability faster than others. Also the first Renault Zoe present battery management problems, and models Smart Ev older ones may be difficult to repair.

In addition, according to the older models of the BMW i3 and Opel Corsa e have reliability failures. As a general rule, Avoid the first generations of the electric models, which may seem temptingly cheap.

In recent years, Battery technology has improvedoffering now greater autonomies, faster loading and better software. Prefer a produced model After 2017as it will be acquiring more modern technology.

Some models may have Chademo sockets, which are being eliminated In many countries, although it is possible to buy adapters for the Combined Charging System (CCS), now used on all porters.

In some ve, There were problems with the driving caps loading, sockets themselves and cables, but they are relatively rare cases.

So, before buying, Check the feature and cover functionalitycarrying the car for a while and observing from the central screen Shows loading warnings or connection failures.

Ask the seller to charge the battery to 100% before your arrival and Check the indicated autonomy. If it is significantly lower than the autonomy announced by the manufacturer, push.

Most of them lose autonomy with cold weatherbut if the ambient temperature is mild, autonomy must approach the official valuel. VE equipped with heat pumps offer better autonomy at low temperatures.

A 12 volt battery in some VEas in cars with combustion engine, You can lose load over timeand this can affect the main battery charging and confuse part of the software. Therefore, it is advisable to replace the auxiliary battery every three years.

In addition to electrical failures, Check suspension wear in the front arms and bushings, and If there are creepy or stalid, ask the reason. VE must be silent and extremely soft.

A very important point before deciding to buy your first electric is if you have a form of Install a home loading stationto be able to carry the VE at home, taking advantage of the lower energy rates. Charging your electric at home allows you save up to 80% than it spends in a combustion vehicle.

But whatever way to carry your VE used, it will always be more economical than what you are used to pay to do 100 km in a gasoline or diesel car, Willson concludes.