The used electric car timebomb: Tens of thousands of EVs could soon become impossible to sell on because their batteries won’t last – find out if you are affected

Cash Mail can in the present day reveal a timebomb looming within the second-hand marketplace for electrical autos (EVs).

Our investigation discovered that many EVs may turn into virtually unattainable to resell due to their restricted battery life.

Specialists mentioned that the common EV battery assure lasts simply eight years. After this time, the battery could lose energy extra rapidly and so cut back mileage between fees. 

Many EVs will lose as much as 12 per cent of their cost capability by six years. Some could lose much more.

But the price of changing an EV battery is astonishingly excessive, our analysis discovered.

In some circumstances, the price of a substitute battery is as a lot as £40,000. For sure EVs, the price of changing the battery might be ten occasions the worth of the automobile itself on the second-hand market.

Meaning used EVs have a restricted lifespan — which makes them a much bigger and larger threat because the years go by. 

Analysis into EV batteries is but to be conclusive and the second-hand EV market is new, given the primary standard EVs had been rolled off the manufacturing line in 2009.

Final night time, one motoring professional mentioned prospects must be cautious of shopping for a used electrical automotive past its guarantee (usually eight years), as after that timespan there is no such thing as a simple method of measuring how a lot the battery will degrade earlier than it wants changing. 

This may occasionally imply you find yourself needing to pay for an costly new battery.

Motor professional Shahzad Sheikh, who runs the YouTube channel Brown Automobile Man, mentioned: ‘With a decaying battery, the vary will likely be poor and you might discover it turns into more and more onerous to resell the automobile after eight years. 

Patrons will know that they’ll solely get a small quantity of life out of the automotive so pays solely a small sum, if something in any respect.’

This downside is exacerbated by the very fact all new automobiles coming onto the market by 2035 will likely be electrical and motorists should get used to paying round £10,000 greater than it’s petrol equal, for a automobile which isn’t constructed to final as lengthy.

Take a brand new petrol-driven Renault Clio — it prices round £20,000, whereas its all-electric reverse, the Renault Zoe, prices nearer to £30,000. 

Whilst you can drive a standard petrol or diesel automotive for round 200,000 miles over 14 years earlier than the engine wants fixing or changing, by comparability a brand new EV is usually assured beneath a guaranty for 100,000 miles over eight years. 

Ought to your petrol engine want changing you possibly can anticipate to pay round £5,000, however substitute the battery in your EV outdoors guarantee and also you’re taking a look at an eye-watering £13,000 to £40,000, relying on the make of your automotive, if you happen to match a producer’s new unit. 

And there are exterior components at play with battery degradation — together with use of quick chargers and even a colder local weather.

The excessive price of EV batteries is a results of it being troublesome to mine metals akin to nickel, cobalt, lithium and manganese which can be used within the lithium-ion batteries. 

They’re additionally in demand for the manufacturing of different electronics, together with cellphones and laptops.

In probably the most excessive circumstances, akin to with a 12-year-old Nissan Leaf that price £2,000 to purchase, you possibly can pay as a lot as £24,000 for a brand-new substitute 24kWh battery.

Nonetheless, most homeowners would improve to a more recent 40kWh Nissan battery costing £12,780 earlier than storage set up charges of round £2,000. This later battery has a much bigger capability however can nonetheless be fitted into older fashions.

T hese excessive prices to keep up an electrical automotive don’t bode nicely for a fledgling second-hand market believes Shahzad Sheikh, who factors out: ‘Early adopters have already purchased electrical automobiles whereas the subsequent wave of patrons are searching for worth for cash — and struggling to search out it.

‘The second-hand market might sound a pure place to search for an EV however sadly it’s fraught with hazard because the batteries are value greater than the automotive. If the battery stops working, the automobile turns into virtually nugatory.’

Automobile buying and selling web site AA Vehicles agrees and says that just about half of all potential second-hand EV patrons are delay due to issues about battery life.

To substitute the battery in your EV outdoors guarantee will price between £13,000 to £40,000 relying on the make of your automotive if you happen to match a producer’s new unit

Rightly so, in response to the RAC. It cites the Nissan Leaf as one of the standard second-hand EVs which by the point it reaches eight years previous could have misplaced 20 per cent of the vary it had when new.

That is because of the battery dropping its effectivity, so achieves a distance of 99 miles between fees relatively than the theoretical 124 miles. 

This can be high-quality for native journeys however impractical for lengthy motorway journeys. The RAC provides that motorists may anticipate the battery to lose maybe 2 per cent of its energy every year to such degradation.

Whereas motorists could attempt to save time utilizing a service station fast-charger, these generate extra warmth which accelerates a chemical response contained in the lithium-ion battery that may result in a loss within the capability it will possibly maintain over time.

To lengthen the lifetime of the battery it might be higher to cost your automotive on a slower mains-connected residence charger.

Climate additionally performs an element in how lengthy your battery will final and EV batteries function greatest at a temperature between 25-45 levels Celsius.

In case you reside in a spot with freezing winter temperatures, then it will sluggish the chemical reactions in EV batteries, which may additionally cut back the cost held over time — and due to this fact decrease a automotive’s general vary. 

To lengthen the lifetime of the battery it might be higher to cost your automotive on a slower mains-connected residence charger

So you might be higher off charging your EV automotive inside a storage relatively than outdoors throughout the chilly winter months.

Tom Barnard, of EV specialists Electrifying.com, advises motorists to purchase a second-hand automotive with a battery nonetheless beneath guarantee. This usually covers the primary eight years of motoring or 100,000 miles — whichever comes first.

He says: ‘If you are going to buy an EV older than eight years with extra miles on the clock then you take a big gamble on the battery holding out. You can’t simply take a look at the mileage clock as with a standard automotive.

‘There’s a broad mixture of different variables to contemplate with an electrical automotive battery.

‘Battery degradation may also turn into a extra necessary consideration sooner or later — as we attempt to be extra sustainable — and maybe be included in an MOT. 

So, our recommendation for individuals who is likely to be nervous about battery life is to purchase a automotive that’s nonetheless coated by guarantee.’

Issues about battery price are usually not helped by a scarcity of transparency throughout the trade — with costs of a brand new battery not marketed.

Cash Mail requested costs straight from Nissan and no definitive reply was given. Buying a battery on your second-hand electrical automobile isn’t an remoted price both. 

You will need to additionally take into account the labour price of changing it, says David Smith, a director at automotive supplier and storage Cleevely Electrical Automobiles, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

‘As a normal rule-of-thumb you may funds £2,000 for a specialist to do the duty. Batteries are usually positioned flat alongside the size and breadth of the automotive simply above the ground plate and normally not too troublesome to get at.

‘However it’s a specialist job, and also you additionally want a full understanding of the wiring and should should reset the pc on the automobile to simply accept a changed battery. Some companies, akin to Tesla, will solely enable their very own dealerships to do the job.’

And what of the destiny of an previous EV battery that may now not be utilized in a automotive? They usually fetch £1,500 and can be utilized for holding vitality storage for photo voltaic panels, however many concern they are going to find yourself in landfill.

Now a bunch of recent start-ups are racing in opposition to the clock to discover a technique to recycle automotive batteries previous their prime together with JB Straubel, former chief Technical Officer of Tesla, who has launched Redwood Supplies.

Mr Barnard says: ‘The previous batteries have an intrinsic value due to the precious metals inside them — and even when they’re now not sensible for storing electrical energy they’ve a scrap worth.

‘It’s nonetheless a comparatively new market and we will anticipate it to develop extra as we transfer in direction of a extra renewable future.’