While the latest and greatest high-tech EVs are great to read (and dream) about, the vast majority of ordinary Kiwis will never buy one and the used car market is where most of us will do our car shopping.
But what is out there in the used EV segment and is it worth making the break from oil on a used car budget? Or might you even be better off than buying new?
We take a look at what do you actually need to look for when it comes to a used EV.
The venerable Nissan Leaf is the most common used EV you will come across in New Zealand.
The first and probably most obvious thing is to check the kilometres driven. While the electric motors in an electric vehicle are probably totally fine, the batteries could be a different story.
Most of us know the frustrations of suddenly realising our mobile phone only holds a charge for half a day when it used to easily last a full twelve hours. Electric vehicles are much the same and checking the mileage is an easy, universal way to get a feel for how the life of a car.
Fast chargers can juice an EV in minutes rather than hours but the extra oomph can damage the battery cells.
Additionally, like a mobile phone, car batteries can be worn out faster when plugged into fast chargers. The convenience of charging from not much to enough to get home in a few minutes is great but EVs (particularly older ones) can lose battery capacity when using these chargers. Lithium-ion technology is universal in this regard.
You can get battery health checks done, and if youre looking at buying a fully electric vehicle from the second-hand market, its probably something youll want to do.
Steven Greenwood, owner and operator of Drive EV, a specialist EV importer and retailer based in Taupo said that the main thing to remember is that an EV is, in many areas, just like any other used car.
Start with the general stuff; is the car in good condition? Is it the right colour and does it have all the bits you want? Greenwood said.
Almost every current EV is powered by lithium-ion batteries, which means they all behave largely the same as time goes on.
Then you can move on to the EV-specific side of things, like how far can it travel on a single charge in NZ?
The most important thing to note when buying an EV is the distance the car can travel per charge, this range will slowly reduce over time so a buyer needs to look for an EV with more range than they need today, so they have plenty in the future.
General Manager of Turners, Jeremy Rooke, added it is important to point out that despite a reduced range, due to a lower battery SOH (state of health), the vehicle will still operate well, and may still be suitable for you based on your specific transport needs. Furthermore, the price you pay should move in line with the SOH/range making it better value if you dont need the full range.
Greenwood said that the general rule of thumb when it comes to battery drop off is around three per cent per year for Nissan Leafs. The more expensive models like the Kia Soul EV, Hyundai Konas, and Tesla do seem to have slower degradation rates, often one per cent or less per year.
Hondas little e is available as a near-new and rather pricey but still very, very cool used import.
EVs dont require warming up in the mornings, cant be redlined and dont have a clutch (or nearly as many moving parts) so cant be abused in the quite same way as combustion cars.
Greenwood offered some tips for caring for an EV battery: The batteries dont like to be left sitting around empty, so if the car is below 20 per cent it is good practice to charge it up as soon as possible, they same goes for a higher charge, it is best not to leave your battery at 100 per cent for long periods like more than a day. EVs love to be driven, so a busy battery is a happy battery.
Another factor to consider is the resale value of EVs. At the moment they seem to be holding value quite well, largely due to the fact that they still have a bit of novelty about them, and that there arent any current incentives for new EVs to drop their price.
Of course, the ultimate value of a car depends on the actual specimen itself – if its dented and scruffy one with 150,000km on the clock it obviously wont sell for as much as a cleaner model of the same year.
Mileage isnt the most important metric when looking at a used EV the battery State of Health (SOH) is more important.
Plus, as demand for EVs goes up, the perceived value of an EV will too. Never assume youll make your money back but as various emissions rules and taxes come into effect over the next few years, a diesel ute will lose more value than an electric SUV.
Greenwood said that, in the six year he has been dealing in electric vehicles, prices have been very steady.
The cars get older but the values seem to stay in a similar price bracket. I think the main factor around this is people can save a lot of money driving an EV as a daily commuter, so this keeps prices firm.
As the latest in technology hits the market, new car prices increase with the distance per charge, so it doesnt seem to have an effect on the older vehicles.
Rooke also said that EVs with a higher mileage but a better battery SOH can be valued more than an EV with lower mileage but a poorer SOH.

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