Or buy a second hand EV for £6k?

 

Thanks for your response Tandy. I did see a few Zoe's and Leaf's i'm just worried about the battery health for a car that's over 8-9 years old or because i would be paying around £50+ a month for the battery lease it would be close to 100%?

 

On a leaf, if you look at the instrument panel, you can see the state of health of the battery before you buy the car.

 

If you can find a ZOE that is 8 years old I’ll give you £100.

 

How long is this offer valid for?

 

The Mitsubishi / Peugeot / Citroen clones and a cheap LEAF24 would meet your needs. I understand your battery health concerns, but how confident are you regarding the engine / gearbox etc. health of an ICE? Clearly your Civic is in a very poor state of health but you have continued with it - why not an EV? Do you have the ability to charge at home and what is your normal journey? If the answer is No and more than 70 miles/day then stick with a cheap ICE and accept that you'll be a social pariah and subject to taxation to discourage such behaviour.

 

I've had my civic for over 6 years and its been mainly used for local driving and covered around 30k. It's a 2 litre petrol so not economical at all. On average we do around 100 miles a week .
If I was to get an EV I can charge it at home initially with the 3 pin and then get one fitted. My biggest worry is the battery health with a used EV

 

My biggest worry is the battery health with a used EV

You can measure this.

Of course degradation happens in ICE cars, but no-one ever seemed to care.

 

Most lease deals you still have servicing costs.

9-10k gives you plenty of LEAF options

Battery health is the big scary thing the newspapers like to rant about, but realistically its not a problem for anything but the oldest gen1 leafs. The later cars fare much better, many models being hammered as taxis for years for instance. Later models also have fairly significant battery warranties.

My own LEAF (bought used) has 45k on it, at just under 3 years old, and its battery health is 93%

4 years of loan payments equivalent to the lease cost, and the car will be mine, and will still be worth likely 6k+. Also gives me the flexibility to sell it whenever i want.

 

9-10k gives you plenty of LEAF options

Battery health is the big scary thing the newspapers like to rant about, but realistically its not a problem for anything but the oldest gen1 leafs. The later cars fare much better, many models being hammered as taxis for years for instance. Later models also have fairly significant battery warranties.

For spread of battery health v age and v mileage, see the attachments to the first post of https://www.speakev.com/threads/the-battery-health-thread.18923/

 

Thanks everyone for all your input so far I really appreciate it.
I would prefer to buy a 9-10k EV than leasing tbh.
@Aragorn Did your purchase include the battery or is it on lease?

 

If you are so worried about the battery degradation, then a zoe with leased battery will put you at ease, suggest you buy @Sandy zoe you go below 70% soh free new battery

 

CanZE reports my packs health as 96%. Car is still for sale, but only listed here just now as I'm in no hurry to sell. But for the right price I'll let it go and struggle for a few months on public transport until my MG arrives. I'll even chuck in the official granny charger I purchased if the price is right while you work out which home charger to install.

 

Don't rent the battery - buy outright for the mileage that you are looking at. You should get a good one for less than £7k unless you want top spec, and it will easily do the range that you require. On the assumption that you own your house and have off road parking a proper chargepoint will cost less than £300 fully fitted - a worthwhile investment. There are far more positive's than negatives - I would not change back from my LEAF24 to my previous BMW 530D. I've had to hire three times to do things that the LEAF wouldn't do - either tow a large trailer or go very long distances - in 18 months which cost less than the vehicle excise duty ("road tax") for the BMW. Oh, and the servicing is a fraction of the cost, there are fringe benefits regarding parking etc. My electric bill has gone up, but less than 10% that my diesel bill has disappeared by. Would I want a "better" EV? Yes, but whatever car you have you always want more.

 

I'll spend a bit of time going through the Leaf section of the forum. Will keep an eye out on the trader and ebay as well used approved Nissan but i guess you'd pay a bit more as they provide 12 months warranty.
@dk6780 do you know who provides chargepoint for less than £300?

 

@dk6780 do you know who provides chargepoint for less than £300?

On the assumption that you qualify for the OLEV grant (you own the property, off road parking, and haven't already claimed twice at that property), most providers do. For example, PodPoint is £279 for a 3.6kW unit, ChargedEV etc. Both sites contain details of the OLEV grant, and lots of other providers have similar deals.

 

to the forum and have been reading through a lot of the discussions round EV's
I currently have a 2005 honda civic, which is on its last legs and only getting between 22-25mpg. I've been looking at a few tions in the last few months but still so confused. I've been doing quite a bit of reading on EV's and would prefer that. I also have a driveway, which is tight but I normally park my car there so charging wouldn't be an issue.

I'm hoping some of you will be able to give some advice on the options

1. Sign up with EVEZY and use the car long term . Possibly a Zoe, Leaf or Hyundai. The only thing putting me off besides the waiting time is the £1000 excess, which has been discussed in depth in this forum. Is there anyone here who has had a car long term from Evezy?
a lease deal where i would pay up to £250 per month. Missed out on one a few months ago with the Ioniq, which was around £190 inc maintenance
3. Buy a hybrid for around 9-10k maybe an auris hybrid? I don't want to spend that much but it would be my car, however I would have to cover the maintenance and service
4. Just buy a small 1.4 or similar car

Most of the driving is local and school runs so around 4k-5k a year.

Thanks for reading

 

I thought I saw a decent price on an Ioniq lease the other day from Octopus; might be worth reviewing what they currently offer.

 

OVO have free charger if you sign up with them

 

Also dont forget, EvEzy have a VERY VERY long wait list for any of the vehicles. 4months later one of my friends is still waiting for a Zoe...

 

Just had a quick look on autotrader and there are a few leaf models 8-10k. 24 kWh will do your mileage, get average mileage car low mileage is not necessarily ideal in ev world as the battery could have been left on full charge for extended periods this is a battery killer. Leaf spy will give you state of health.
Lots of advice on here and am sure someone close to your location would help to narrow down your choice and possibly loan the OBD to use with leaf spy.

 

I've got a test drive booked on a Leaf this weekend just so i can get a feel for it.
@KenB I've had a brief look at OVO and it seems pretty good. The tariff is also a bit cheaper i think it was around 15p per kwh
I'm keeping an eye out on Leaf's around 2014

 

I've got a test drive booked on a Leaf this weekend just so i can get a feel for it.
@KenB I've had a brief look at OVO and it seems pretty good. The tariff is also a bit cheaper i think it was around 15p per kwh
I'm keeping an eye out on Leaf's around 2014

If your thinking of OVO and a Leaf, maybe see about their V2G trial if you qualify... good way to charge for free effectively
And dont forget the referral code and that you get the polar Subscription for free as well as part of it

 

@dm57 Leaning towards a Tekna 2014 but looking around 9k for that. There's a couple on Used approved Nissan which give you 1 year warranty as well which isnt too bad
@Kingpleb1 that's interesting i'll look into OVO V2G trial, thanks

 

Personally if you can push a bit more id look for a 30kwh unit. they come up a lot and buying used and not from a dealer will help. The warranty isn't really needed IMO, just keep it serviced(what there is to service is minimal) and issues are flagged up there.

 

@Kingpleb1 its probably going to be around another 3k+ difference. Don't want to really spend 12k+ for a 30khw Leaf
My budget was around 8-9k

 

If you can stretch your budget to £274 a month with £274 deposit DSG have a ZE40 R110 with battery included, I can recommend it as a great first EV with a decent range of 150 - 160 miles.

http://www.dsg-renault.co.uk/model.php?type=cars&model=zoe

 

The more i read the more i want a 30kwh Leaf
@Rooster-x Initially i was looking into both Leaf and Zoe's and finally kind of settled with a Leaf, thanks for that though

 

Its hard to stomach but its a much better car.
It can rapid charge quicker, has better range and has slightly, slightly newer infotainment system as well albeit maps still from 2016.
Its worth the extra stretch and high mile ones with good batteries can be had cheaply if you are quick to move and dont mind driving. DG sometimes have cheap ones, Ebay and Gumtree.

 

If you can stretch to a 30 you have the added range which you may never use but over the long term will give you the required range for longer. (does that make sense?)
The only thing to get clear before buying is the state of health (SOH). OBDII dongle and leaf spy app will give you this information. As already stated there is not a lot to go wrong. My 2017 30 tekna had both wing mirrors replaced under warranty (squeaking) Just had the earth cable recall done no charge just inconvenience of taking to dealer and 2 hour wait. Done a few 600 mile round trips with no issues. I charge to 60-70% every couple of days in winter to cover commute and local trips. Use charge timer to be complete when I leave on long journey so battery is not sitting at 100% for long. Use myleaf app to turn on heating,seats and steering wheel on these cold mornings 15 minutes before leaving. I have 18K on clock in 30 months still have 12 bars on battery and SOH is 98%. On full charge GOM shows 126 miles but this goes down to 110 after about 5-7 miles. You will soon learn to drive economically and set yourself targets. Once you know what your car can do then you will have no issues.

 

Totally agree with you with the 30kwh but i think its too much of a stretch for me its another 3k so around 12k, which is way over my budget. I'd probably do around 80 miles a week so can charge it once or twice if need be

Any recommendations on the OBDII dongle? is the leaf pro app the one thats needed? its £20

 

30kwh leafs with about 40k miles are hovering just over £10k, but if you’re doing 100 miles a week I would stick with a 24kwh model. Even the oldest 1st gen models owned by some on here are still doing 40 miles in a single charge.

 

Been looking for a few days now on autotrader and ebay, struggling to see anything around 10k 30kwh tbh, it might be because i'm looking for the tekna model

 

@zed0077 if you do gravitate back towards a Zoe mine will be on the market in the new year. Will be well within your published budget. While its battery lease you'll have years of savings based on my sale price.

 

This is the dongle I bought from Amazon a couple of years ago.
Konnwei KW902 Bluetooth 3.0 Wireless Car Auto Diagnostic Scanner Scan Tool Compatible with Android and Windows ELM327 OBD2 OBDII
Be aware that some cheap ones are prone to not working chinese knockoff etc.
Leaf spy lite will give you SOH but not much else. Pro version is £12 on google play store. Use mine on android no problems.