Edmunds: Five things you need to know before buying a used EV
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There are additional aspects about buying an EV that you'll need to consider in order to get the best value. The car experts at Edmunds have put together five tips on what you need to know.
Buying any car is complicated. Want to make it even more complicated? Consider buying a used electric vehicle.
There are good reasons to consider a used electric vehicle. Perhaps you want an EV as an additional household vehicle -- for your teenager who just started to drive, perhaps -- or as a replacement for a vehicle you already own. But there are additional aspects about buying an EV that you'll need to consider in order to get the best value. The car experts at Edmunds have put together five tips on what you need to know.
An EV typically costs less to charge and drive than paying to fill up the tank of a gas- or diesel-powered car. That can help you save money in your monthly fuel bills. But you'll need to crunch some numbers to find out how much.
The EPA's fueleconomy.gov website is a helpful resource for comparing the efficiency and annual fuel costs of different vehicles. Make sure to enter personalized information about how much you'll be paying for electricity. Unlike the relatively stable pricing of gasoline, electricity costs vary widely depending on where you live and how you charge. Check out Edmunds' How Much Electricity Does an Electric Car Use? article for additional information.
Starting in January 2023, the IRS revised its policy on EV tax credits on used vehicles purchased for US$25,000 or less. Eligible vehicles qualify for a tax credit of 30% of the purchase price up to a maximum of US$4,000. There are many caveats, but the eligible vehicles list is quite generous.
Perhaps the biggest limitations are that you must buy from a licensed dealer and the vehicle must be a model year at least two years earlier than the calendar year when it is purchased. You can learn more from the IRS' Used Clean Vehicle Credit page and the EPA's search function for eligible vehicles.
The federal government requires EV manufacturers to warranty their batteries for eight years or 100,000 miles. That means battery life is a consideration, but it's probably not the biggest one. An analysis of 6,300 EVs by the fleet-tracking firm Geotab concluded that the rate of battery degradation of the EVs it tracked was slower than the usable life of the vehicle. The average rate of decline in Geotab's tracked vehicles was 2.3% per year.
