Buying a used EV in India: What to look out for?

I feel with maturing EV tech, used EVs make a greater sense than ICE. There’s hardly anything that can go wrong on a ASC serviced 2-3 years old EV that can’t be fixed in warranty.

BHPian rohanshivi1 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Things you should consider buying a Used EV

Recently I had some friends & colleagues here in Nordics considering buying a used electric car (around 4–10 years old) since there are decade old cars available now like Nissan Leaf or Model S, and online, many people seem to be worried about expensive issues after the warranty expires. There is some justification for this, as I see it, although some risks seem to be exaggerated online. Therefore, I have tried to rank the risks below according to a combination of probability and cost. This applies to electric cars in general; in practice, it varies greatly by model, so you need to check which issues affect the models you see available in the used car market.

1. PTC Heater / Air Heat Pump These seem to break down sooner or later on many models and are unfortunately often surprisingly expensive to fix. The combination of cost and probability makes me rank this as problem #1.
2. Onboard Charger Especially electric cars coming out of French & Czech stable (Like Citroen or Skoda), but also some others, have had a lot of trouble with the onboard charger. Expensive to fix – however, one would hope that these problems are largely addressed under warranty. Possibly a transient problem, so maybe this should be ranked lower in the future.
3. Various Suspension Problems The weight of electric cars and sometimes undersized components and other suspension problems common. Usually relatively cheap to fix.
4. Moisture Ingress / Condensation in High-Voltage Battery In a country like India, I find this difficult to assess, but it can be costly on older electric cars. Will rust and dirt make moisture a problem specially in coastal cities.
5. Degradation / Weak Cells in High-Voltage Battery Battery replacements due to degradation or weak cells are a risk that is often exaggerated in my opinion. However, there are probably some models where this is a real risk, mainly older models but also, for example, Volkswagen has had some problems with degradation on new models.
6. Brakes Risk of trouble as the brakes (depending on the model) sometimes become too inactive due to regen, but usually cheap to fix. Worth keeping an eye on, especially the rear brakes.
7. Dents/Damage to Battery Housing/Undercarriage You don’t want to damage the battery housing as it can lead to a increasing issues and be very expensive to fix. Important to inspect when buying a used electric car. If you know when the damage occurred, it should generally be covered by insurance. Uncommon but expensive.
8. Screen/Computer/Electronics Here I am a bit unsure: problems seem to be quite rare, but various issues have occurred. Difficult to assess how these will function when the car gets old. Can be moderately expensive? Includes trouble with handles in this category, which has been unexpectedly common.
9. Rust Rust occurs, of course, as with all cars. Generally, I find that today’s cars are very rust-resistant, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
10. 12-Volt Battery Wears out easily on electric cars, but cheap to replace.
11. Increased Tire Wear Electric car tires wear out slightly faster than ICE cars due to high weight / rapid acceleration / regen. But all tires wear out, even on fossil fuel cars – the additional cost should be small.
12. Drive Unit / Motor Problems Uncommon for the drive unit to malfunction, but it can occur (e.g., noise) on some models. Expensive to fix, but ranks low on the list as this works well on most models.

Here’s what GTO had to say on the matter:

I tend to avoid over-complication, and prefer to simplify things.

My advice:

1. Buy the latest EV you can buy. The technology and product become better & more mature each year. I wouldn’t recommend anyone buying a 3 – 5 year old EV today.

2. Look at the manufacturer’s track record in EVs. With the 1st-gen products, you will be part of the R&D.

3. Take the longest possible extended warranty that you can get your hands on.

4. Avoid the duds = current example would be the e-C3 from Citroen. It’s barely selling 60 units a month, the dealership experiences can be bad (no profits = unhappy dealers), the product has compromises.

5. Consider the manufacturer’s track record. BYD & MG have lots of experience in EVs – even the ZS EV was such a sorted product for its time. Tata’s EVs are great, but be ready for niggles. Every Ioniq 5 owner I have met is super-duper happy with the car.

6. Personally, even as a certified lover of pre-worshipped cars, I would avoid Used EVs. Even if you have a budget of 15 lakhs, there are plenty of great choices (Punch, Windsor, Nexon). If you go higher up, things only become better (Curvv, Mahindra BE 6, Creta & more).

Whatever the budget, there are great brand-new EVs at every price point. I’ve never bought a used laptop or smartphone, and would generally avoid used EVs too (unless it’s an EQS or Taycan at half the price).

Here’s what BHPian mh09ad5578 had to say on the matter:

I feel with maturing EV tech, used EVs make a greater sense than ICE. There’s hardly anything that can go wrong on a ASC serviced 2-3 years old EV that can’t be fixed in warranty. Low mileage examples would make great buys. It would be like a year old flagship smartphone, almost as good as one new at half the price. I am certainly looking to buy a pre-worshipped top end Curve EV 55 with say 30 to 50k kms on the odo for 10 to 12 lakhs three years down the line. With current poor resale values of EVs this doesn’t seem to be such a far fetched dream.

Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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