Should you buy a used electric car? Here’s why second hand EV sales are soaring and why you should go electric

The Independent

The Independent looks at the burgeoning used EV market, with electric vehicles offering a wealth of positives as a used car.

Transcript

00:00Here's an interesting thing. While it's fair to say that sales of new electric vehicles

00:04could be better, sales of used electric cars are booming. It seems more and more people

00:10are turned on by the thought of going electric and the savings that buying a used EV can

00:14bring. But we know there are still concerns people have particularly about buying a used

00:18electric car. So we're here to give you all the facts and help you decide, should you

00:24buy a used EV? Whatever you call them, EVs, electric cars, battery electric vehicles,

00:36they all have that one thing in common. Yep, batteries. And when it comes to longevity,

00:42batteries don't always have the best reputation. Mostly down to those things, our mobile phones.

00:48Well let me tell you about this car. This is a Tesla Model S, but it's nearly 10 years

00:54old and it's got a whopping 250,000 miles on the clock. Now in that time, all that they've

01:01replaced the tyres and thankfully the carpet mats as well. Now I know what you're thinking,

01:07what about the battery? Well this car, after nearly 10 years and 250,000 miles, still has

01:1484% of the original capacity of this battery. 84%. I think that's pretty impressive. Now that

01:22means this car can still do the best part of 250 miles on a single charge. Is that unusual? Well,

01:29I'm off to Tesla's base in West London to find out. Tesla has its own certified pre-owned program.

01:38Other car makers call them approved used schemes. That means every used Tesla sold

01:43under the CPO banner gets a 90 point check, which includes making sure the software is up to date.

01:48That includes a check of the battery and Tesla tells me that my 10 year old car is nothing

01:54unusual. You'd normally see less than 10% degradation in the first few years. Tesla

01:59has also promised that it will continue to support older models like this one and that

02:03includes things like software over the air updates. So when it comes to buying an EV in

02:08the tech, the chances are the EV could be better used than it was new. That includes the battery

02:14tech and efficiency. That means as far as Tesla is concerned, that every certified pre-owned car

02:20gets enhanced autopilot, which is about the most advanced self-driving system you can get right

02:25now. And the car will even park itself. So let's give it a go. Spooky. So that's the Tesla view.

02:40I'm now off to one of the UK's leading independent EV specialists where they not only sell every

02:46maker model of car, they service them too. It's a hundred miles away. So should I be worried about

02:53range anxiety? Well, not in this car because I'm still showing 200 miles range left and a

03:02hundred miles away. I might stop for a quick top up on the way home, but probably for about 15

03:08minutes and that'll be plenty. And that's one of the things about EVs. You don't always have

03:12to completely fill it up. Just charge with what you need. Two things about charging. Now I'm going

03:20to be using the Tesla supercharging network, which is one of the good things about running a Tesla,

03:25but charge anxiety isn't the thing it used to be. One new public charger is being installed every 25

03:32minutes in the UK. So the charging network is bigger than ever and more reliable than ever.

03:36In any case, if you've got an EV charger at home, you soon realise it's the most cost effective

03:41place to charge. And you only ever really charge on the go if you really need to. What you really

03:46need to do is make sure you have a smart energy tariff at home to really cut the cost of driving.

03:51For example, using E.ON Next Drive's smart tariff, you can charge up at just 6.9 pence per kilowatt

03:58hour between the hours of midnight and 7am. That's less than a quarter of the normal price. So on a

04:04home 7 kilowatt charger, you'll get 49 kilowatt hours of charge for just £3.38 and that charge

04:11will probably take you over 150 miles. Try travelling that distance in a petrol car for

04:17that money. It'll more likely cost you around £25. We're here at Cleveley EV in Cheltenham,

04:22one of the UK's leading independent electric car specialists. Now inside they not only sell

04:28every make and model of electric car, they service them as well. With me is Matt Cleveley,

04:36the founder of Cleveley EV. Now Matt, we're seeing a bit of a surge of EV sales at the moment. I'm

04:41seeing some sold signs on the cars around here. Is that something you're experiencing? Yeah,

04:45absolutely. Yeah, definitely seeing confidence growing in the market. And what excites people

04:49about buying a used EV and what concerns do they have as well? How cheap they are to run,

04:53how economical they are and what great value for money they are. You can pick up a used electric

04:59vehicle for decent money now and then you've got something that will be perfect second car within

05:03the family. It's a local run around. If you're brave enough, you can go further. The whole

05:08argument about public charging infrastructure, for me, it doesn't really exist. There is plenty

05:13of infrastructure out there, you've just got to be brave enough to use it. Bums in seats gets

05:17people excited once they drive them and they realise what pleasure they are to drive. You

05:20service cars as well. They're less complex electric cars, so surely they must be cheaper to service,

05:25are they cheaper to maintain? They are, yeah. Servicing is still important, but it's a lot

05:30lower cost. And are they more reliable? They are hugely reliable, yeah. What do you think are the

05:34most important questions for somebody who's shopping for an EV? When they go to meet the

05:38seller, what should they be asking? Making sure the seller is knowledgeable about the car, where

05:43it's passed, where it's come from, that it's been serviced and looked after and maintained. And

05:48battery state of health. There are multiple tools now to be able to read state of health. So I set

05:53out to find out whether you should buy a used EV or not. And let's put it this way, I would. The

05:58usual rules of buying a used car apply. Do as much homework as you can into the car and the

06:04seller. There are loads of online tools where you can check the MOT history and look at reviews of

06:09the seller if they're a business. And you can carry out a full history check into whether the

06:14car has been stolen, written off or whether there's any outstanding finance. And you should

06:19always ask lots of questions about the car to the seller that will tell you as much about dealing

06:24with them as buying the car. Assuming that's all clear and you're 100% happy with the deal. And if

06:30you're not just walk away, then I'd be very happy to buy a used electric car and I'd recommend it

06:35to you too. In fact, I did recently to my nephew, he's just bought a used Tesla and he's very, very

06:41happy. Phew, the last thing I want is his mum, my sister giving me a hard time over it.

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