I’m looking for an electric car to drive back and forth to work. I cannot charge at work at this time. I can level 2 charge at the new house, definitely 3kw, probably 5kw, maybe 7kw.

We have two cars, I always let my SO have the better of the two. I drive a bucket of rust to work, and I’m fine with that. Happy even.

We used to have a Chevy volt, I liked it, my SO hated it. They prefer an SUV with AWD for our snowy winters. That’s fair.

We moved slightly north recently, and while we used to have an equal commute, mine is now significantly longer than theirs.

It is 75 miles round trip, 26 miles at 70mph, the rest mostly 50-55mph.

Though I can and am willing to add 10 minutes to my drive to cut out those 26 miles taking side roads if I need to, I know high speeds are bad for electric economy.

My goal is to buy the cheapest electric car that will do the job, and not much more. My car sits unused 4 days a week.

I’m not opposed to something tiny bit nicer, we have shared events twice a week that would benefit from using electric over gas, about 50 miles round trip.

But we just spent a lot of money, so I’m fine going super cheap for something that just gets the job done.

I’d like to spend no more than $5000. I can stretch to $8000 without too much guff. And $10,000 if I really have to but I don’t want to.

I know this is a horrible time to buy, but I swear I was pro electric before gas went insane.

Does such a car exist? I don’t even know where to look.

Are old defunct leafs cheap? This is the type of jank I’m talking about haha.

Edit: to be clear, I do my own vehicle maintenance, that’s why I always drive junkers. It’s cheap and easy for me to keep them on the road. I know EVs are a bit different, but I bought my last volt for $2000 3 years ago because it was non functional, and I fixed it.

I’m not exactly looking to do that again, but that’s also on the table if there’s good documentation.

  • acockworkorange@mander.xyzEnglish
    2·
    5 days ago

    Old leafs use ChaDeMo chargers, which are rare. Other than that, you’re just looking for a car with 100 mile autonomy, which isn’t asking for much. New vehicles easily reach twice that even in their most basic offerings. The price point you’re asking though… Not sure you’ll be able to find anything.

    • Nollij@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      3·
      4 days ago

      Not that rare. Many larger fast charging stations (6+ stalls) have one, but it’s often shared with CCS and might be in use. Regardless, their use case is strictly charging at home. I’m seeing conflicting info on earlier years, but at least since 2018 the Leaf uses J1772.

      That said, there are still reasons to avoid the Leaf. They mention snowy winters, which means cold. My experience with the Bolt means significant range loss in the winter. I find that it’s reasonable to take the required range (75 miles, as they mention) and double it to find the minimum EPA rated range for their needs. That covers wind resistance, snow, cabin heat, buffers at the top and bottom of charging, and battery degradation.

      IOW, they need to get something rated for 150 miles. Which was common for the Leaf after 2018. This would now be 8+ years old, so it should be rather affordable.

      The Leaf, however, is not a good car. The batteries are notoriously bad, at least in earlier years. Repairs have been a major concern for owners. OP does their own maintenance, but I don’t know how feasible that really is. The entire electric drivetrain is different from ICE, and parts may not be readily available.

      A Chevy Bolt from that same era should also be fairly available and cheap. But it does come with the caveat that you have to verify that it either was not affected by the massive battery recall, or that it was already replaced.