Cost Incentives of Used EVs
by Michael Pierce
With the recent disruption of the global oil supply, everyday people are feeling a pinch in their wallets every time they go to the gas pump. Fortunately, gasoline is not the only way to power vehicles anymore, and recent data shows that many people have begun looking to electric cars to combat the surge in fuel costs. Electricity costs have generally been cheaper than gasoline for a while now, but since there are many more used EVs on the market today, the upfront barrier to entry has become much more affordable. However, it is a whole new type of vehicle, and if you have never considered an EV before, seeing things like range, kilowatt-hours, charge speeds, and this thing called a “frunk” may seem a little overwhelming. So let’s look at what kind of EV may be right for you and then take a look at where you can find them.
When considering what kind of EV to get you should start with the normal things you think about when getting a car: how many people do you need to carry around regularly, do you need a lot of trunk space, safety features, etc. These don’t change from gas to electric, so they should be pretty familiar. But the electric things that you need to think about are: how far you drive daily, your ability to charge at home, your electric utility rate, and the public charging options in your area.
Let’s start with your daily commute distance. Why does this matter? Well, the real convenience of EVs is that you don’t need to go to a pump or charger and fill up when you are empty. You just plug it in at home every night or every other, and it’s full when you wake up. The average American drives less than 40 miles per day; every once in a while you drive around all day running errands or you go on a road trip, but in your day to day life you drive to work, take the kids to school, and go home. So, when you see a car that has a 250-mile range, just remember that you will only be using about 40 of those, and then filling it up overnight. Suddenly the “short” range of EVs doesn’t seem like such a problem.
If you have a house, you likely have a wall outlet near enough to where you park to charge your car, and a normal household outlet can charge most EVs enough overnight for that 40 miles of average day-to-day driving. If you drive farther than that regularly, or plan to get multiple EVs, then you may want to consider installing a faster charger. There are many resources for determining what you should use or what you need to do to install a dedicated charger, and many KEVA members would be happy to talk to you about your specific situation.
Whether you plug into a wall outlet or install a charger, you will want to know the cost to charge. If you don’t know your electricity rate, you should be able to find it on your utility bill or on the utility provider’s website. Once you find this rate, you just multiply it by the battery size of the car that you are considering, and you will know how much it will cost to fully charge it. Here’s what that looks like for me so you can get a better idea: my utility rate is $.09/kwh. My 2021 Tesla Model Y has a battery with about a 73kwh capacity. That means that to fill up my car it would cost a little under $7.00 (73x.09). Some utility companies even offer special “time of use” rates that can make it cheaper depending on when you charge, so look into that on their website also.
This is all great if you have a house that you can plug into at night, but there are over 100 million people in the U.S. that don’t have that luxury. If you are not a homeowner, you may not have the option of installing a faster charger, or even of plugging in at all. What you can do is figure out your public charging options by looking on websites like Plugshare. Plugshare gathers data from all the charger companies and shows options in your area that are compatible with your car. It also shows the charging price and recent reviews so you can see if certain plugs aren’t working or what amenities are around. Look up your town on Plugshare, and you may be surprised by how many chargers are actually available to you.
Electricity rates don’t fluctuate like gas prices. My utility rate hasn’t changed in the past few years I’ve lived here, the public chargers still have the same prices they had when I got my car a year ago, and some places even offer free charging for customers or employees! I don’t think I have ever heard of somewhere regularly giving gasoline away for free. In this time of fuel uncertainty, an electric vehicle is certainly a way to hedge yourself from dramatic cost changes that are out of your control.
But where can you get a good used EV? Well, if you made it this far, then you have an idea of what kind of EV you need. Now you just need to see what the prices are for those specifications. Websites like Plugstar can take you through most of what I have mentioned and show you the new models that match what you need, but used models can be found anywhere you would normally look for cars. Edmunds, Carvana, Facebook Marketplace all have electric cars for good prices. Main brand dealers, like our sponsors, have used inventory and even used car dealerships are beginning to get EVs as people upgrade to newer models. Here in Tennessee, there is even an EV specialized dealership, EV Auto, that helps people find the type of EV that they actually need.
Here is what the process of finding a used EV looked like for me recently. I had to buy my wife a new car because her old Jeep Wrangler was on its last legs. I had three main requirements: 1. enough battery range to do our 30mi daily commute, 2. the ability to make it to her parents in Rogersville and back (120mi) without charging if needed, 3. under $10,000 if possible. So I went on Edmunds, filtered to electric, and sorted price low-to-high. The cheapest EVs on the market are Nissan Leafs for around $3000—good for 3. But they only had a 70-mile range when new (good for 1) and with a terrible battery pack design, over 10 years of degradation, and no fast charging these did not fit need 2. There were many Plug-in-Hybrid cars that fit my budget and could make it to Rogersville and back with no problem, but most of them had battery-only ranges of under 20 miles so still not what I wanted. Any full Battery Electric car that had the range to make it all the way to Rogersville and back was beyond my $10k budget. I finally found that BMW i3’s with a Range Extender generator met all of my needs. It had a battery range of about 70 miles (plenty for the commute), a gas tank that extended the range to 120 miles (just the amount needed to see the in-laws), it could be filled up quickly with gas so we wouldn’t be stuck charging for an hour on old charge tech, and the older ones are between $5-7000.
Once I decided on the car, I kept checking Edmunds, Marketplace, and Cars and Bids for one that fit the specifics of that model we wanted and was close enough for us to pick it up. We finally found the perfect one on Marketplace, and you can see our trip to get it on my Youtube.
Getting a used EV doesn’t need to be scary or complicated. There are fewer moving parts than in a gas car and less things can go wrong. Sure, different cars have their quirks for certain years, but so do gas cars. And most EVs have battery and drivetrain warranties that last 8-10 years or 100,000 miles! This is more protection than most engine warranties offer. My 2021 Model Y that I got in 2024 still has 3 years left of its battery and drive train warranties, which is good because the 2021’s are known to have weird battery problems. If you are still concerned, you can always purchase an extended warranty, but as battery packs continue to improve, fewer battery replacements occur and the cars just keep driving for over a million miles.
If you have any questions about what you should get or if a car you find is a good deal or not, post about it in the facebook group. Our friendly KEVA members will be glad to take a look and give potential warning if needed.