Am I suitable for an EV....honestly?

lob020

Thanks for cleaning up post and comprehensive reply.The reason I'm picking the i3 is it's available and getting good deal on trade in.Depreciation bothers me as with newer models coming on stream with higher ranges and possibly cheaper.who would want older models.

unkel

The 24kWh i3 is already an old model, so you should be getting it for a good price. Nowhere near as cheap as you could get a 24kWh Leaf for though. If your concern is depreciation, the best fix for that is to spend less money in the first place

Any reason you are only looking at the i3?

lob020

I like it and would love to get newer model.but can't afford it.I still don't want to have an unsaleable car 3 or 4 years down the road.even if I have saved on fuel in the meantime. I still may wait for new Leaf which might be in my budget.thats why I'm seeking opinions
This forum is great and everyone contributing so generous. I really appreciate it

unkel

It won't be unsaleable, but spend €20k on an i3 now and you will lose half of that in a few years. Old EVs will likely prove to keep their value well, as even with diminished range, they can still be very good as second cars. Low tax, fuel, insurance, maintenance and high reliability

You can already see this in the older Leafs. They seem to hold their value quite well after the initial period of high depreciation in the first 4-5 years

isnottheword

lob020 wrote: »

Depreciation bothers me as with newer models coming on stream with higher ranges and possibly cheaper.who would want older models.

There's depreciation on all vehicles - whether ICE or EV. However, I accept there are greater levels of depreciation in the first 2 years for an EV. That said, who's to say you can't turn that negative into a positive.

At the right price point, there will most definitely be a market for older ev's - and that will work out for you so long as you have not spent over the odds in terms of outlay from day 1.

As regards spending up to 1000 euro a home charge point - that situation can be avoided if you can source the appropriate charge point yourself - via ebay or speakev, etc. Can you bide your time and organise that once an opportunity comes up? If so, it shouldn't even cost half what you mentioned.

cros13

Remember, an i3 has a thermally controlled battery pack and a longer warranty than the 24kWh Leaf.
Along with twice the power to weight and better handling I can't see depreciation not beating the Leaf after the usual drop any BMW takes in the first year.

Get a proper chargepoint, the granny cable isn't designed for safe long term operation outdoors.

Insurance on my i3 was the same as my Leaf.... very cheap. Part of the reason for this is that most crash repairs (as long as the damage doesn't hit the carbon fiber) are cheaper than a 1-series.

As for the boot... I can see why you'd have issues with golf clubs unless one of the back seats was folded. However with the back seats folded I've put a washing machine in there in full packaging... no bother.... I only wish I'd taken pictures

Balmed Out

BoatMad wrote: »

yes time will tell, but habe a goggle at Li lifecycle graphs, they are nothing like linear, typically inverted hockey stick instead , i.e. there is a slow degradation , followed by a rapid loss of capacity

certainly were I looking at ten years, I would be factoring in a battery replacement of certain cells

Worrying, planning on buying and keeping long term. Any ideas on when its expected a 24kw leaf will reach this cliff?
Any advice which is a better buy same year - 20k km sv or 70k km sve with the sv being slightly more expensive? Had leaned to the sve but would worry about long term battery health.

unkel

I wouldn't worry too much. Most EV cars now come with 8 year warranties on the battery pack. And after 8 years the cars isn't going to be worth much anyway. If you plan to own the car for 6-8 years, buying new would probably work out better in terms of warranty / peace of mind with only slightly higher depreciation than buying second hand and keeping it for say 4-5 years.

And remember your fuel in an EV costs €200 per year, in a diesel €2,000 (at average mileage or so), so the fuel savings alone will save you a lot of money.

BoatMad

unkel wrote: »

I wouldn't worry too much. Most EV cars now come with 8 year warranties on the battery pack. And after 8 years the cars isn't going to be worth much anyway. If you plan to own the car for 6-8 years, buying new would probably work out better in terms of warranty / peace of mind with only slightly higher depreciation than buying second hand and keeping it for say 4-5 years.

And remember your fuel in an EV costs €200 per year, in a diesel €2,000 (at average mileage or so), so the fuel savings alone will save you a lot of money.

The reality is the 8 year warranty is virtually useless unless you are doing tiny annual mileage , you will exceed the 150k limit first.

unkel

200k and 8 years on an Ioniq (in the US the battery guarantee is life time afaik)

That's more than I will do in 8 years and a lot more than the average car in this country drives

BoatMad

unkel wrote: »

200k and 8 years on an Ioniq (in the US the battery guarantee is life time afaik)

That's more than I will do in 8 years and a lot more than the average car in this country drives

Average mileage is very misleading

The Li in cars is no different to the Li in your phone and battery warranties only kick in around 70 degradation which is substantial

My point was that at 10 years I would expect substantial life cycle degradation and factoring battery replacement

This could be on a cell pack by cell pack basis. And one would expect that third party batteries will be widely available by 2027

That's the only point i was making , I see no issue with owning a 10 year old EV. It's likely to be in far better mechanical condition then it's ice counterpart.

unkel

So basically there is no problem with older EVs and their batteries

Yeah you will have battery degradation. Probably to below 70% after about 8-10 years. No problem. Car is still usable but obviously range is lower. 10 year old Leaf / Ioniq probably still worth a couple of grand in 2027. And as yourself, I expect much cheaper solutions to (cell) fix or replace batteries by then, but if not, there still is no problem.

I admit battery degradation was my foremost argument against EV up till a few years ago. Now the problem has just kinda disappeared, so my old argument no longer holds.

lob020

Thanks for all contributions
The question is ;Am I suitable for an EV
Concerns;
Depreciation costs
Cost of installing Chargepoint
Costs of replacing parts
Costs of replacing tyres
Range anxiety
Size of car
Others

BTW _What is a SV or SVE ?

unkel

That's just a trim level in the Nissan Leaf.

goz83

lob020 wrote: »

What is a SV or SVE ?

There are 3 main trim levels.

XE, SV and SVE (in the UK, they are Visia, Acenta and Tekna).

The SVE/Tekna is the top spec with heated leather seats and 360 degree reverse camera and 17" alloys.

KCross

goz83 wrote: »

There are 3 main trim levels.

S, SV and SVE (in the UK, they are Visia, Acenta and Tekna).

The SVE/Tekna is the top spec with heated leather seats and 360 degree reverse camera and 17" alloys.

There's no S... its an XE, SV, SVE

goz83

KCross wrote: »

There's no S... its an XE, SV, SVE

My bad....typo