Buying a used electric vehicle is not a very different experience from purchasing a gas-powered car. You need to pay attention to the same essential things, such as making sure that the powertrain runs as it should, checking the bodywork for rust or repairs that might indicate serious crashes, ensuring that the vehicle has matching numbers and is not stolen, checking its maintenance history , and much more—including taking it for a test drive, which is a must every single time you buy a car. Buyers also need to be aware that an EV has many specific things that need to be checked before they can safely commit to a purchase.
As you can imagine, those are generally related to the drive battery, but aspects like charging, software and service record should also be on your checklist before placing your signature on the dotted line. Battery Pack: Degradation, Range, Warranty & More The battery pack is the single most critical component of an EV and the one that can make or break the ownership experience—not to mention the bank. As you probably know if you use a mobile phone, laptop, or any other battery-powered appliance, batteries degrade over time, so the first thing you need to do is check how much battery degradation the used EV you want has experienced.
Most EVs offer this information via the user interface, but having the battery checked at a dealership’s workshop is a better idea, as KBB explains in this article . You can also determine battery degradation the good old.