Technology Connections and Hank Green have been shouting this for a while, but that whole issue is way overblown. Some first gen EVs around 2010 had issues, but every major manufacturer since then has way exceeded expectations on battery lifetime thanks to advanced BMS and thermal controls. Car batteries don’t just rapidly degrade out of the blue, the tech has nothing in common with what’s in your phone. But public sentiment has not caught up because most people think Li-Ion = smartphone = dead after 2-5 years, so second hand EVs are way undervalued. Which is great for buyers.
It’s not like you can’t easily total a second-hand ICE by mechanical failure. Just ask anyone who own(ed) a puretech engine. If you went by manufacturer recommendations, the fucking thing might just eat your timing belt one day and grenade itself. And there’s no way a full engine swap on a 5-10 year old economy car is economically viable.
There’s always something that could go wrong when you buy a car. Unless you get comprehensive insurance and warranty, you need to accept the fact that losing the entire car to an accident, catastrophic mechanical failure, or theft is always a risk. If that’s too much anxiety to deal with, get a lease.
Overspark@piefed.social 5 months ago
Replacing the batteries with new ones on my $50k when it was new car (BMW i3) would cost me about $10k. Which is roughly what the car is worth on the second-hand market right now. The chances of me ever having to replace said batteries are basically zero. The chance of an ICE car spontaneously setting itself on fire are actually much higher, so this is a massive nothing-burger. When owning a car you should ALWAYS think about what happens if said car is suddenly total-loss the next day. Usually the answer is to replace it with another second-hand, not buy a new (!) battery from the dealer. Hell, second-hand battery packs are a thing too now, and much cheaper. On most EV’s you just drop them from the bottom and pop in the replacement, much less work than replacing an ICE engine.
boonhet@sopuli.xyz 5 months ago
That’s not a particularly big battery, that’s why your battery is so cheap.
Even so, there’s nearly always someone willing to buy an ICE car off you to fix it, unless it’s a Stellantis product or something. Gets trickier with EVs because, again, cost.
Second hand battery packs are an option, but when I looked at ones for the car I was looking at, they still cost roughly the value of the car, unfortunately. On a car that entered production like 7 or 8 years ago.