Climate protection: Used EVs can be great deals with low mileage

There are some very inexpensive cars out there that are safe, reliable and cost less than $5,000. What makes these cars so inexpensive is that you plug them in each night, and they don’t work well for road trips. They are electric vehicles from 10 years ago.

In the U.S., the electric vehicle (EV) market first took off with the Nissan LEAF in 2011. By comparison to EVs from the 2020s, the LEAFs of the 2010s had short ranges. Since 2020, EVs could go more than 200 miles between charges.

Since 2024, some EVs go beyond 300 miles. The 2011 LEAF could go 73 miles on a single charge. That would work for a commute between Edmonds and Sea-Tac.

Compared to EVs of the 2020s, the first LEAFs charged slowly. Some EVs in the 2020s have been able to add 24 miles of driving range every minute of charging. A 2011 LEAF could not add more than 14 miles of range in an hour. Charging like that rules out road trips, but for fully charging overnight, 14 miles each hour isn’t a problem.

The road trip experience is part of why these older EVs have fewer miles on them. No one drove these LEAFs to Orlando.

LEAFs from the 2010s have gotten very inexpensive. Gas cars get cheaper when they wear out and become expensive to maintain. If you’re buying a gas car for less than $5,000, chances are it has over 150,000 miles on it, and you’ll spend over $2,000 a year on gasoline (for 12,000 miles each year). 

If you buy an EV for $5,000, it will probably have less than 80,000 miles on it, and you will save about $1,600 per year on fuel alone. That’s on top of stopping your greenhouse gas pollution.

A $2,000 EV

In September, a friend of mine (who asked to be called “Julie” here), bought a 2013 Nissan LEAF for $2,000.  

Julie has been driving her LEAF for a couple months now, and I checked in to hear how it’s working out.

Julie’s LEAF has 90,000 miles on it. That’s low-enough mileage that the car doesn’t show wear and tear on the outside or in the upholstery. The suspension is fine. The paint is fine. Julie reports that it drives smoothly. Other LEAF owners have driven their LEAFs for 180,000 miles and more. 

Defrosting weakness

The only thing about the car that bothers Julie is that her LEAF does not defrost the front windshield well. A gasoline car wastes 75% of its gasoline energy to heat up its engine and the neighborhood around the car. It’s easy in a gas car to direct some of that wasted heat at the windshield and dry away frost and condensation.  

An EV uses about 90% of the energy it consumes. Only 10% is wasted as heat. The result is there is not a lot of spare heat available to push onto the windshield. Older EVs like Julie’s did not deal with the problem, and on a cold day, you end up with condensation you have to wipe away by hand.

For years now, EVs have come with heat pumps that defrost and dry away condensation reasonably quickly. Even in 2013, the Nissan LEAF was available with a heat pump. A heat pump would solve Julie’s condensation problem, but in 2013, the heat pump was an extra option, and Julie’s LEAF doesn’t have one. She says it’s annoying in cold weather, but it is a small downside, given the price.

Reduced range = reduced price

When it was brand new, Julie’s LEAF could drive 80 miles between charges. That would have been more than enough to drive from Edmonds to Sea-Tac and back. Most EVs from 2013 have lost battery capacity and cannot drive as far between charges. 

According to data from Recurrent.com reported on Edmunds.com, most 2013 LEAFs with 90,000 miles can travel about 55 miles between charges.  

Like defrosting, battery technology has improved. For older EVs, battery overheating could reduce a car’s single-charge range. Something like that may have happened to Julie’s car. Her LEAF can only go 32 miles between charges.  

And 32 miles is not a problem for Julie. She drives about 15 miles each day.

Charging

Julie’s landlord thinks Julie’s EV is great, and he has installed an outlet at her parking space. Before long, every apartment building will have EV charging.

Adding the electricity fill-up Julie’s car costs about 50 cents each night. 

Julie’s last car was a Subaru Outback that got 21 miles per gallon. Fifteen miles a day would have cost her about $2.50 a day in gasoline.

Maintenance

The previous owner of Julie’s LEAF reported he never needed any repairs or maintenance other than to replace the tires. That’s common. Many EVs require very little maintenance. EVs slow down by connecting their wheels to generators that top up the battery. That reduces wear and tear on the brakes. An electric motor has fewer parts than a gas engine. To get an idea of the difference, you can ask any woodworker about the last time they changed the oil on their table saw. (They don’t, and table saw motors are just like EV motors.)

Resale

In the two months she has had it, Julie reports that two different people have offered to buy her LEAF.

Overall

Julie recommends a car like her LEAF for drivers who don’t drive far. The savings are great. She also thinks the car would work well for teenagers. Having a range of 32 miles means they don’t drive far from home, and they are in a car they can safely drive to school during storms.

Julie’s last thought was that her LEAF had an unexpected upside: With its comfortable seats, it is great to take a nap in.

Climate changes

• This last month, the president of Iran announced his capital would have to abandon Tehran for someplace that still has water.  
• Two Washington state residents filed a class action suit against ExxonMobil and other oil companies for running a PR campaign that misled the residents into harming themselves by buying gasoline that released greenhouse gas pollution.  
• Extreme rainfall brought flooding that killed more than 1,600 people in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.  
• In October, for the second time, Alaska was hit with the remnants of a typhoon that was carried all the way across the Pacific by overheated waters.  

That is what driving gasoline cars is doing to us now.

There is an EV for you

You don’t have to buy a $2,000 Nissan LEAF. To get an idea of what used cars are available, see Edmunds.com. For $10,000, you can get a 2020 Chevy Bolt that drives over 200 miles on a single charge.  

For $15,000, you can get a 2021 Volkswagen ID.4 or a 2018 Tesla Model 3.  

For $20,000, you can get a 2022 Hyundai Kona or a 2024 Kia Niro.  

For $25,000, you can get a 2025 Chevy Equinox or a 2024 Kia EV6. Both drive 300 miles between charges.

For $40,000, you can get a 2024 Kia EV9 that seats seven or a 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning that has outlets to plug in equipment at a worksite. 

Maybe you are the sort of person who buys or leases new cars. Go for it. Buy or lease a new EV.

Whatever you do, get out of your gasoline car. The carbon dioxide your gasoline car releases heats our planet. Some of the carbon dioxide will go into the ocean, making the water more acidic. Some of the rest will last in the air for thousands of years, causing trouble for your family and our country for generations.