I can’t stand this line of thinking. Where do used cars come from? From handing down new cars. You can’t buy a new used car, so someone has to keep buying new cars to supply the used car market. I’m all for prolonging the life of cars and reducing buying new cars for something newer and shinier (my daily has been two smaller 1998s in a row), but buying used “for the environment” is greenwashing your hands of the fact that it was, in fact, a newly-manufactured car at one point. Paying for a used car incentivizes people to continue buying and selling their new cars. And yeah, the manufacturing pollution sucks for a new car, but so does the operational pollution of older vehicles. What’s the break-even for the manufacturing pollution of a 2020 car vs the continued operational emissions of a 2000 car? A decade? So by 2030, buying that new 2020 might be cleaner than continuing to prop up that 2000.
Yeah, I’m excited for a better used EV market. Saving pollution is a side effect of me needing them to be more affordable. I hope a used 2nd gen Leaf will be compatible with me in 2026. I love saving gas like it’s a competition. I hypermiled and aero-nodded a 97 Taurus. I wanted 4x4 and got a 98 Geo tracker in 2020. I needed a pickup and got a 98 4cyl Ranger in 2022. I commute half my days on a 60mpg motorcycle. I have never bought a new vehicle in 20 years of driving, but used cars aren’t manufactured as used.
On a global scale, why wouldn’t it be reliable? China has the biggest EV boom and over 10% of the global population. It’s not unreasonable that a global tally skews results to the Chinese or Indian market.
Is a tired 1st gen Leaf an “EV with limited EV functionality” if the battery only has 50 miles of range now? Where do you draw the line?