The Expert Podcast

Electric vehicles have really only been around in the market for five or ten years, and in a large volume, only for a few years now. As we’re starting to see more used electric vehicles come into the marketplace, replacement battery costs are becoming more of an issue.

This family purchased an electric vehicle and found out that replacing the battery costs more than the vehicle itself—just for the battery. They bought a vehicle for eleven thousand dollars and discovered that the battery replacement cost fourteen thousand dollars for the used EV Ford Focus battery.

This raises an important question: What happens when the replacement battery costs more than the car itself? The car may end up being scrapped, and it may not be worth it.

How does this happen? Well, keep in mind that electric vehicle batteries degrade over time. In fact, most of the warranties on EV batteries say that as long as the battery is 70 percent of its initial capacity, it’s still valid. You don’t get a warranty claim unless it goes below 70 percent.

How would that work if your engine only works 70 percent of the time in a gas car? It’s a little bit different of a warranty experience with electric vehicles.

So what you want to do is check out the battery on any electric vehicle you buy before you purchase it. Just like you check out the engine, brakes, and transmission on a gas car, you want to check out the battery on an EV. You want to check out the capacity, the remaining life, whether it can still charge up to a full charge, if there are any error codes, and how much has been used up.

What affects the degradation of a battery? It’s not just mileage; you can’t just go by the miles on the odometer. It has to do with how fast that vehicle battery was charged on a regular basis. If you use a DC fast charger, that degrades the battery faster. If you live in a hot environment or a cold environment, that could also degrade the battery faster. There are many factors other than mileage or even time that can affect how bad a battery starts to break down.

So, make sure you do your due diligence and have that battery checked out before you write a check for any used electric vehicle. Make sure that the battery you’re buying is worth the price you’re paying for the vehicle.