[jlturner]

I bought a used EV back in 2016 (2013 Leaf, certified preowned from dealer, just off 3 year lease), and negotiated 25% off asking price, coming in at $9k.

I have had $0 in maintenance costs, the battery health meter (and approx range) is still exactly where it was when I bought it, despite tripling the miles. I drive it every day for in city driving.

Meanwhile my Jeep of the same era required a new crate motor be installed after a cooling failure, and I’m pretty sure the transmission will need replacing in the next 5 years. The repair costs on this vehicle have been well over $10k. We ended up giving it to my sister in law after fixing it up, then bought a Subaru (which the assisted cruise control on is basically highway self driving, so good for long trips!).

A lot of ICE cars end up as junk too. The EV is actually more promising to me BECAUSE of the battery swap. I can put a battery in my Leaf from a newer vehicle and increase range to a couple hundred miles (I’ll do this eventually, maybe in another 10 years). This increases the longevity of the vehicle (it’s a great car aside from range).

Honestly, the Leaf was the best car purchase I’ve ever made (I’ve owned 7 in my life, all for > 10 years, aside from the latest car and another which was stolen). I’d highly recommend people buy used EVs (but I would do a certified preowned vehicle from the dealer again, you want to know that it doesn’t have said costly damage to the vehicle, but that’s true of ICE cars that require major work too).

PS: we use the EV for city driving (easily 90% of our car use) and the ICE car to go long distances (visit relatives, camping, road trips), and only leaves the garage 2-5 times a month (but packs on the miles!).

[loloquwowndueo]

“I can put a battery in my Leaf from a newer vehicle … and increase range to a couple hundred miles“

I think you’ll find putting a battery from a newer LEAF generation is not going to be trivial or cheap. Cars invented planned obsolescence, computers have nothing on them, so there’s likely to be non-trivial differences between batteries.

[djaychela]

Wrong in this case. It's a straightforward common swap on these, at most needing some brackets and an intermediary on the can bus, and stronger rear springs depending on the exact swap.

[grecy]

The Leaf is very well know online for this being a very easy direct swap.

[toomuchtodo]

There is more than one company out there shucking old Insights and Leafs for their battery modules for stationary storage applications, check with them wrt resale value if they're procuring in your area before DIYing or trading the vehicle in to a traditional auto market maker.

If you can afford it, I recommend folks buy new EVs and leave old EVs to be repurposed for stationary storage (as current grid demand is voracious for storage, which will drive fossil generation out of the electrical mix faster). If you can't afford a new EV, certainly, a used EV is fine if you can live with the reduced range and fast charge challenges.

[aftbit]

Wow nice deal! I wish I could keep a car for 10 years. I have had some cars that are pretty old, like my 2001 Ranger, but either major mechanical failure or crashes have taken them all from me within less than a decade of ownership.

The equivalent car to your 2013 leaf today would be from 2019 or 2020. I wonder if I could find one of those for under $10k. That would be pretty awesome. The truck could get demoted to living outside and I would save some cash and CO2 when I drive around town.