The market for second-hand electric cars in Ireland barely exists right now, and there’s little point in looking to the UK for spare supplyOnly two models – the Renault Zoe and the Nissan Leaf – have been around for long enough for any decent levels of stock to exist.Irish car buyers are continuing to face an uphill struggle to actually get hold of a new car.
The Nissan Leaf has been around for a long time, but customers are rightly wary about the battery life of a second-hand model. “The consumers who are going electric are still in the early-adopter category, so they tend to buy new because they have the budget, and they like to get that Government discount. There’s also a sense of being able to show off a little, to say to the neighbours that ‘I bought this new car and got €10,000 off it’ rather than buying a two-year-old car.”
The used car market will be critical for reaching the Government’s stated aim of having one million electric cars on Irish roads by 2030. Quite aside from the obvious need to keep electric cars sold today on the road by then, there should also have been a healthy supply of spare used EVs coming from the UK. Brexit and the supply crisis have scuppered that.Conor O’Boyle is the chief operating officer for used-car website Sweep and newly established electric car comparison site.
and the battery is nearer the end of life which will cost have the price of a car to replace. It's like when people bought those low mileage Japanese cars back in the 90's the engines were ruined from being in traffic so much.
Used EVs would need to be fitted with new batteries if older than six years.
UK supply gone & EVs with good range 3 yrs old. Not many changing after 3 years. Optics not good but keeping grants for nuts who change for gizmos will keep supply going. N/lands have €2k 2ndhand grant. They reached threshold so new grant tapering from €4.5k to €2.5k by 2025
I’ve never ever ever bought a used battery, that’s going to require a whole new kind of stupid 😂
Can the media be honest for two seconds and report on the cost of a replacement battery ?