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What I wouldn’t recommend for most buyers

Based on reports from Wapcar Automotive News, right off the bat, there are vehicles that we can rule out almost immediately for most buyers unless the vehicle is a second vehicle used only for short local driving (like average US commute) and you have a place to charge your nightly car.

I do not recommend them. They are usually a bad bet and should only be considered if that’s all you can afford and can afford for it to break you and not be fixed. That excludes cars like the Ford Focus Electric, Chevy Spark EV, some used Volkswagen for sale, like the Volkswagen e-Golf, and to some extent the first-generation Nissan LEAF for almost every car.

Because it mainly applies to what we call “automotive compliance”. These are vehicles with a range of less than 100 miles and typically do not have DC fast charging. A handful of these cars are made because manufacturers only build them to qualify for ZEV guarantees or emissions credits. 

While you can live with it and find such a vehicle useful, many of them are out of warranty and you can’t take them in for repair as the battery cells age and fail. , causing very large and heavy paper pressing.

Next, let’s talk about the first cheap used Tesla Model S cars that you can sometimes find in the $25,000 price range. It may seem like a lot, but the first of these cars are no longer covered by the battery warranty. This means that as cells age and deteriorate, you will have a very expensive solution. However, if you can save some cash on repairs from Gruber Motors, this could be a good option.

Yes, Tesla will be happy to replace the battery if you experience a cellular failure in an out-of-warranty Model S. However, they will do it for $20,000 or more. For a $25,000 car, that makes almost no sense unless you can get the car for a very cheap price. But that doesn’t mean these cars are out of cause. Repairable for nearly $5,000. So, if you can afford to find $5,000 to move it to Phoenix and get the car repaired if that happens to you, a used Model S could be a good option. However, an old Model S is probably not a good candidate to be the only car you can barely afford.

What is left

That really leaves only a few cars in the price range that I’m not disheartened by.

One car that you might be surprised to hear I offer as a viable option under $25,000 is the second-generation Nissan LEAF. I am not happy with my car, largely because it is not the right car for my situation. When I bought it, I lived in Arizona. It remained with me when I set off for New Mexico (a place that is close to El Paso). However, these two places are located in the desert, where it is hot. This makes the LEAF a bad choice because the vehicle lacks a liquid cooling system. This results in more degradation than most owners have experienced, but it’s still far less degraded than the first generation LEAF.

For those who live in a cooler climate and don’t need to use DC fast charging repeatedly while on the road or driving a lot, the 40kWh or 62kWh LEAF offers great autonomy for most uses. locally and regionally. It would make for a perfectly good local commuter car with room for those unusual days, and at least potentially give it a quick charge session for those more unusual driving days.

Another possible option is two popular hybrid plugins. Early i3 REx cars and many Chevy Volts can be had for under $25,000. These cars aren’t fully electric, but their battery range covers more than most people’s typical commute. This means you’ll only rarely use the range extender, and so these cars will essentially be electric cars for most people. 

When I had a Volt, it used to be empty for over three months because I never needed to refuel. The battery covered my driving, but I was still able to refill it and drive across the country if needed.

Finally, there’s a used car that most people would recommend and it’s pretty close to what I bought recently: Chevy Bolt EV. These cars have a long-range and they all have new batteries or will soon. Even before the fire recall, these vehicles had suffered very little deterioration, even after 200,000 miles of strenuous driving and regular DC fast charging. 

Why? Because GM has a pretty heavy liquid cooling system, it uses the air conditioning system to cool the battery coolant. And now even the oldest Bolt EV has a new battery with the watch restarted on top of an 8-year warranty, so it really is a steal.

The only downside to the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV that will qualify for these used tax credits is that they don’t charge very quickly. With a maximum charge rate of 55kW (which they can continuously receive multiple times, unlike LEAF), road trips are doable, but take longer than Tesla, VW ID .4 or another better electric vehicle. But you won’t find cars under $25,000 any time soon. 

Now, I know many readers will see the things I missed here and have other ideas. So I will give you the floor. Scroll down to the comments or replies on social media to let me know what you think I missed in my response to Out of Spec’s question. I’d really love to hear what our smart and interesting readers (well, most of you) have to say about this.