Tell me about your 3+ year old electric car

[TutTutTutSigh]

I've had my 10 year old car from new and thinking of switching to a bigger electric car, 3-5 years old. My commute is 10 miles each way so I don't need a massive range, already have a charger installed.

I've been looking at the Peugeot 2008 around £14,000.

What's your car like if it's over 3 years old? How's the battery? Will I need a specialised garage for MOT'S etc or will any garage be able to do them.

Any other cons vs a standard car? I'd be hoping to get at least 5 years out of it.

I was just thinking age 3 is far too young for an electric car 😂

Most models have very little battery degradation. There’s a few small garages that don’t have the training to work
on EV’s for servicing but there’s not many now. Can use any for the MOT I think though. I was an early adopter- in my 11th year of EV ownership now (many different models) so it’s changed a lot. It’s a doddle these days compared to 2015.

If you can have a home charger it’s absolutely worth it. I personally wouldn’t if I relied on public charging only just because of the cost and hassle.

I was picturing those child cars that the kids can sit on 😅

We have a little electric that's at coming up for 3 years.

There may be slight battery deterioration, but not much. I don't think we got up to 218 miles on a full charge this summer, only 207, but that may just have been not as hot.

I love it.

Agree with everything @FancyCatSlavesaid

Ours is a short range (100 miles) 70 reg (so over 5 years old) and the battery is just as good as when we got it ex demo.

We run an EV and a petrol car and will replace the petrol with a longer range EV as soon as we can afford to.

My current car is a 2020 e-208, mileage is low though as it spent the first few years of its life as a show model. Battery seems not to have lost any noticeable capacity and never had any issues getting it serviced / MOT'd.

It's also very fun to drive.

🤣

All positive so far.. it seems like a no brainer given we've already got the charger.

Google suggests £12 per overnight charge, based on my current tariff (24p per kwh). Do you all have a tariff that offers cheaper overnight rates?

We have the Octopus Go tariff. 28p peak 7p off peak. Off peak is 11.30pm-5.30am and also any time the car is plugged in and Octopus don’t have high demand so they create a charging plan

Car is a 5 year old Tesla and it’s great

Before you choose a plan make sure it’s compatible with your car/charger.

Our electric car is so cheap to run it’s just brilliant! Roughly £30 per month (Ovo anytime) and I keep getting £8 vouchers from my charger company too. My commute is just under double yours and we do lots of small journeys in the evenings with kids to clubs.

Re battery life after 3 years unless you’re regularly doing big big miles ie needing to charge on the go multiple times per week due to long journeys I don’t even think you’d notice a slight reduction in range as if you’re charging to 80% every night (as I think is recommended) you’re probably only going to be dipping down to about 70% every day.

I just can’t recommend them enough based on my own experience and unless something changes wildly with electricity costs I will never go back.

I’ve got a 67 reg Hyundai ionic. I love it. It’s got 123000 miles on the clock and I’ve had it since it had 34000 miles on it and it’s sound. Still charges well. No issues with the battery. I’ve replaced the auxiliary battery once. Lovely car, get about 145 miles to a charge in the summer, about 85-90 in the winter.

Ours is a 5yo MG5 estate, 200 mile range, we've had it from new we leased it then bought it. No change in battery. We've driven to Scotland and France. All good. We are with octopus and have cheaper overnight so we put the charger on a schedule.

We have a 2018 Renault Zoe and I haven't noticed any battery degradation tbh. We still get 170-180 miles per charge. I think the max used to be 186.

We usually charge at home. It's rare for us to need to charge elsewhere.

Our local garage can service and mot it now. It couldn't in earlier years but must have got their staff trained up or something, I don't know.

Definitely look at the cheap overnight rates. Our EV6 costs 2p a mile on average. We're with Octopus.

Also with octopus and pay 7p/kw overnight so charge the car and run the dishwasher and washing machine overnight. Car is 4 years old and we have absolutely no battery concerns (VW)

Are you looking for fully electric or hybrid? I have a self charging Toyota Yaris. 10-year warranty but you'd need to have a local dealership/garage. Great for nipping about town.

I pay 7p kWh on Ovo ev smart charge tariff, which is their overnight cheap rate. Works out at 2p/mile vs 15p/mile for my 15yo fiesta. It’s brilliant.

Thanks, I'll check if Octopus is compatible with my charger.

@mouldycandy Full electric I think, and I need something bigger than my hatchback so looking at SUVs.

Mgzsev (22) here officially 275 miles but over 300 in summer, down to about 240 in winter Ohme charger and octopus electric and cheap as chips, I can fit a non folding adult wheelchair in the boot so it’s a decent size literally not a single problem in 3 years