Is it worth buying a 10-year-old electric car in 2024?
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Electric car sales have boomed in recent years, but their resale value is less than ideal. With discounted used options emerging on the used market, we look at whether it’s worth buying an old electric car.
Australia has been left in the dark regarding our choice of electric cars compared to Europe. We didn’t really start getting a wide range of choices until around 2022 and 2023, when BYD, GWM, MG, and Kia started releasing their electric vehicle line-ups Down Under.
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But before we saw all of these new models land on our shores, we had the choice of just four different passenger models: the Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, and BMW i3, as well as a handful of Tesla Roadsters and Blade Electrons (EV-converted Hyundai Getz).
All of these models have just recently reached their 10th birthday, and with the average age of a vehicle in Australia being 10.8 years, we look back to check out how they stack up against some modern-day options.
Is it worth buying a 10-year-old electric car?
In short, a 10-year-old EV is likely not going to replace your everyday vehicle.
Perhaps if you wanted a runaround car for short city trips, a 10-year-old electric car wouldn’t be a bad idea, but realistically, they just don’t stack up against more modern electric options. Here’s why.
How much range does a second-hand EV have?
Obviously, the number-one talking point in relation to used EVs is range and battery degradation. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how much battery depletion you’ll experience when buying a used EV, because it will heavily depend upon how well the car was looked after by the previous owner.
Even just looking at the original claimed range on an older EV is enough to deter you from purchasing it in 2024. The first-generation Nissan Leaf has a WLTP range of just 175km, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV has 150km, and the BMW i3 has 190km. The Tesla Model S is much better, as it started at 390km for the 60 variant and went up to 490km for the 85D variant.
These figures are just the range when new, not current or future range. Looking at the classifieds of these vehicles, owners are claiming around an 85km range on 100,000km Nissan Leafs, 90km for the i-MiEVs with under 100,000km, and the general consensus seems to be around the 300–350km range mark for the Model S.
Comparatively speaking, the cheapest new EV from the past two years is the GWM Ora ($35,990 drive-away), which has a WLTP range of 310km. The next cheapest, the BYD Dolphin Dynamic ($36,890 plus on-roads), has a WLTP range of 410km.
The general rule of thumb for EVs is that once the battery drops to around 70 per cent of its original capacity, it’s time for a replacement. That said, if you’re purchasing an i-MiEV, Leaf, or i3, it’s likely the car itself will not even be worth the price of a replacement battery.
The latest study from Recurrent, a US electric car website, suggests that the cost of replacing a battery pack depends on several factors, such as the car’s popularity, the availability of parts, and the market demand.
Prices have increased in recent years. For example, a replacement battery plus labour for a first-generation Nissan Leaf currently costs around $US12,000 ($AUD18,000) in North America.
Meanwhile, used batteries for a BMW i3 sell for approximately $US145/kWh ($AUD218/kWh). Considering the cost of a new battery and the replacement, it’s better for you to buy a new or lightly used EV.
How can you check EV battery health?
If you’re anxious about the life left in a used EV’s battery, then there are ways you can check the overall battery life in some of the older models.
Nissan made it easy with the first-generation Leaf by adding a secondary bar next to the overall battery percentage bar. This skinny bar tells you the life and condition of the battery by gaining information based on the time it takes to charge and how quickly it is using the available battery.
Other than this, you can take a Leaf to a Nissan dealership and have a technician plug a diagnostic tool into the OBD2 port (under the steering wheel), which will generate a battery life report.
The BMW i3 also allows drivers and potential buyers to find out the battery’s health without the need to plug in a special tool or take it to a service provider.
As you can see in the video below, the i3 has a hidden menu that can be accessed through a series of button clicks and the last four digits of your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).
The Tesla Model S (and Teslas in general) make it slightly more complicated to check the battery health. Drive understands that Tesla owners who want a battery health check can request one from Tesla Service via their Tesla app, which the Tesla service team will then action remotely.
While Tesla Australia did not respond to Drive’s specific questions about the process, it’s believed there is little to no cost involved and you can check out our story about attempting to check the battery health at home here.
As for more modern EVs, most will need to be taken to a service centre, where a technician will either run a diagnostic report on the vehicle or conduct an overall battery health check.
Dickson Leow, General Manager of Australian EV and hybrid battery remanufacturing company Infinitev, says his company is working to make purchasing a second-hand electric vehicle easier.
“If you were to buy a 2016 Tesla and you're not sure about the battery – we've developed a service with a tech partner in Austria where you plug an IP dongle and you get a read-out of the CAN, and generate a report of how much battery capacity is available and what's the state of health,” said Leow.
“We’re currently working through the business model to decide whether we provide a service to local workshops or through the RACV, through a dealership, or as a private pre-purchase inspection for customers.”
How much is an old electric car?
While old EVs can suffer from issues like depleted range, reduced battery capacity or dated charging technology, older internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles don’t experience the same degradation, making it incredibly difficult to justify the cost of a first-generation electric vehicle.
The early Nissan Leaf is probably the worst when it comes to value for money. A first-generation model typically goes for around $10,000–$15,000 and is heavily dated in the modern-day technology department.
The first-generation Leaf does come with things such as satellite navigation, a reversing camera, and a touchscreen display, but the rest of the interior is still quite basic. Comparing the Leaf to its ICE brother, the Pulsar, you get a similar-sized car with similar tech and no range anxiety for sub-$10,000.
Despite a $15,000 price tag sounding tempting when compared to that of a 2024 Nissan Leaf, which is $50,990 (plus on-road costs), the technology offered on the new model versus the old model is night and day. You have a plethora of driver assists, modern-day interior technology, a WLTP range of 310km (with the option of a long-range model for an extra $10,500, bumping the range to 439km) and a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty.
It’s a similar story for the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Given it hovers around the $10,000 mark, you’d be better off purchasing a used Mitsubishi Colt for half the price and getting more than 90km of driving in before you need to stop for a refill.
Where you may find better value is when purchasing an older BMW i3 and the Tesla Model S. The BMW i3 is less of a car that you’d buy because it’s an EV and more of a funky car choice – they do hover around the $30,000 mark, which is quite a bit for a car with dated technology and a very short range, but they’re unique and from a premium brand.
In terms of value for money, if you can get your hands on a Tesla Model S for circa $50,000, you’ll likely get an excellent car for the money. Not only were they nearly $150,000–$200,000 (depending on the trim level) when new, but they’re also a slightly more premium model than the Model Y and Model 3 available in Australia now.
The Model S holds up quite well in 2024, mostly because it was a premium car when it first came to Australia, with some variants costing upwards of $200,000 when new for the top-of-the-line P100D. Not to mention that quite a few first-edition Model S variants came with free Supercharger use for the life of the car, which is another large saving for owners.
They also have top-of-the-line Tesla factory equipment like the twin-motor AWD set-up and around 400km of range.
Is it worth buying a 10-year-old electric car?
Realistically speaking, you’re not getting a fantastic deal by buying a first-generation electric vehicle as they tend to fall short in terms of range, equipment, styling, and price.
As more choices land on Australian shores, you’d be better off waiting a year or two for current-generation EVs to begin hitting the used market before putting your money towards something as dated as a first-generation Nissan Leaf or Mitsubishi i-MiEV.
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