Hey everyone,

I’ve been seriously considering getting an electric vehicle, but I’m currently looking at the used EV market since it fits my budget better. I’ve seen a few second-hand Leafs, i3s, and even a couple of older Kona EVs around.

Just wanted to ask — for those of you who have experience with used EVs, what should I be looking out for? Especially in terms of battery health, software updates, and any red flags during a test drive?

Also, do most EVs allow you to check battery degradation easily, or would I need special tools/apps?

Appreciate any tips or things I should ask the seller. Hoping to make the switch to electric soon.

Thanks in advance!

Just recently got myself a used BMW i3 .... LOVING IT!!!!

Now going back down the rabbit hole of having to upgrade the PV System to account for the new consumption ... and that consumption is quite something!!! Since plugged in our household consumption has more than doubled! 🥴 Totally worth it though, looking forward to an upgraded system 😁

Anyways, not that I have much experience, the only thing that I checked out was the battery SOH - and in the case of the BM you can't actually check the SOH itself, but rather the "capacity" of the battery which is apparently not an accurate indicator of SOH, but does give a good idea of where the battery is at ...

I turned down 2 i3's due to poor "capacity", both between 40 - 60,000km.

Third one I checked had over a 100,000km, beyond my comfort zone and wouldn't have been on my radar to check out, but stumbled on it by chance - according to the "capacity" reading it was well over 90% "SOH", waaay better than the previous two that had done only half the km's, so I bit the bullet and am super chuffed so far (been two weeks)...have since run the battery down to 5% and the range driven indeed does correspond with the capacity reading, so all seems great!

The capacity reading on the BM can be found through a "secret menu" - although the ease with which this menu was found through Google makes it "not so secret" 🤣

8 hours ago, markus_m2 said:

Just recently got myself a used BMW i3 .... LOVING IT!!!!

Now going back down the rabbit hole of having to upgrade the PV System to account for the new consumption ... and that consumption is quite something!!! Since plugged in our household consumption has more than doubled! 🥴 Totally worth it though, looking forward to an upgraded system 😁

Anyways, not that I have much experience, the only thing that I checked out was the battery SOH - and in the case of the BM you can't actually check the SOH itself, but rather the "capacity" of the battery which is apparently not an accurate indicator of SOH, but does give a good idea of where the battery is at ...

I turned down 2 i3's due to poor "capacity", both between 40 - 60,000km.

Third one I checked had over a 100,000km, beyond my comfort zone and wouldn't have been on my radar to check out, but stumbled on it by chance - according to the "capacity" reading it was well over 90% "SOH", waaay better than the previous two that had done only half the km's, so I bit the bullet and am super chuffed so far (been two weeks)...have since run the battery down to 5% and the range driven indeed does correspond with the capacity reading, so all seems great!

The capacity reading on the BM can be found through a "secret menu" - although the ease with which this menu was found through Google makes it "not so secret" 🤣

I must say this is an enjoyable car to drive. I just found the braking due to throttle position one thing one will have to get used to in a EV.

On 2025/04/09 at 7:53 PM, Scorp007 said:

I must say this is an enjoyable car to drive. I just found the braking due to throttle position one thing one will have to get used to in a EV.

Yep, but the upside to the regenarative braking is that it recharges the HV battery by quite a substantial amount, all the while saving your brake pads ;-)