Need some help deciding which EV to buy SUV or station wagon as far as vehicle type goes, need a bigger car this time and would like to ask for some tips on which are reliable and as a secondary parameter good range or battery capacity, features and esthetics are not important also i’m in Germany and how best to approach buying a used EV, any tips are appreciated.
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A bit late, but something I didn’t think about before I bought my EV is that it is generally recommended to charge between 20-80% and not charge to 100% and drive until something like 5%. So if you will end up following something like this, your day-to-day range is 60% of the full range.
My phone has the option to turn on “battery protection” or charge to 80%, know of any chargers or car brands that have this option?
The enyaq has sold like warm breadrolls for good reason, it kind of hits the sweet spot for a lot criteria while not being too expensive. However, the market is like 75% SUVs, so if you don’t specify what you want, it’s hard to recommend something.
Not too many station wagons in the market… there’s the id7, but that’s still pretty new so you probably won’t find a cheap one. There are the Astra sports tourer and the Peugeot 308 sports wagon which I don’t know too much about but which seem decent. The mg5 is an older Chinese model with all the implications that brings, but maybe you’ll find a cheaper used one. The Porsche Taycan had been the only station wagon in the market for years and its resell value sucks compared to its list price, so maybe check out for some deals there?
For practical reasons, maybe check out some Hochdachkombis? The Citroën Berlingo e.g. is a terrific car when it comes to being useful. Won’t give you too much street cred before the next traffic light race though.
I do not understand the Enyaq hype personally. It’s not that cheap and it felt pretty uncomfortable to me. Sluggish as well for an EV, the Hyundai E-Kona was noticeably quicker to react to input despite being less powerful. And somehow the seats were less uncomfortable. Test drove them both before the Ioniq 5 came out though. I later test drove that and… Basically if you’ve never owned an expensive (or formerly expensive) car with a good suspension setup, I think you’ll love it. Basically everything else about it was great, just not the actual driving characteristics.
I’m now slightly more seriously looking at used EVs, both the EQC 400 and Polestar 2 are cheaper than the Enyaq as long as you’re looking for AWD versions of each. Personally I’m of the opinion that if a car tries to pass off as a crossover “SUV”, it better have at least some form of AWD. I haven’t actually test driven either of them, but I assume they HAVE to be better than the Enyaq. I used to own the S205 C-Class that the EQC is loosely based off of and that was significantly better, but then it was also an ICE vehicle, so less weight for the suspension to deal with.
RWD Enyaqs are close to AWD EQCs in price though. But if it’s RWD, they should also lower it and make it a proper station wagon… Or if it needs to be tall, make it a proper minivan. Half my wagons have been more capable off road than a base Enyaq, so in what goddamn world is it a crossover “SUV”… Ugh fuck car manufacturers.
Just don’t buy a POS Tesla.
Even when highly recommended i wouldn’t have bought it.
Xpeng g6 or g9… 800 Volt, insane loading speed, great software with over the air updates. In my opinion the best choice. https://www.xpeng.com/
I recently bought an EV and he’s what I learned. Get a vehicle with an 800 volt charging system. Lowers your level 3 charging from 35 minutes to 18 minutes.
Depending on what you are doing with the vehicle, 200 range is more than enough for a city commuter.
For long distance travel, the fast charging will help a lot. If you absolutely need range look at LUCID vehicles. Otherwise most people can cope with 200 to 300 range and fast charging.
For the US, used EVs are dirt cheap these days. 20k can get you a vehicle that’s 3 to 4 years old, 25 to 50k mileage, and most are still under warranty.
Charging at home costs about 1/10th the price of gas for me. Plus super convenient.
Chademo chargers are being faded out for US. So a car that charges on a Tesla network is best for traveling.
Most EVs are good, some have software quirks, outdated battery tech, etc. but I would look at Hyundai, Kia, Tesla, Audi, and Lucid as some of the top EVs. Although new Chevy bolt, VW id4, Cadillac Lyric and others can be good reliable vehicles at rock bottom used prices. Also honorable mention for Porsche Taycan which can be found used 35k to 60k usd
Not too many 800 volt cars in the used car market though… depending on your driving profile, I wouldn’t see a 400 volt system as a deal breaker. If you’re commuting and then have like one or two vacations per year where you really need fast charging, that works well enough with 400, too.
Leaf?
I think the newer leafs are good but are limited on range iirc.
Leaves
Never heard of LUCID till now and there don’t seem to be offered anywhere in 250km radius, but will keep an eye out for the others, thank you.
Since you are in the EU I think Xiaomi SU7(Chinese) might be available in '27. Those are like Taycans but costs about 42k new.
Also if it gets cold, you might want to look for vehicles that can preheat the battery.
Lucid might be us only?
Just 1 Xiaomi offered in a 200 km radius YU7 for 65000…
You don’t need fast charging unless you plan to take road trips. I have an older Chevy Bolt that doesn’t fast charge as quickly as some of the more recent cars, and it hasn’t bothered me. On long trips I just stop somewhere for 30 minutes or so to refill. Gives me time to walk the dog, stretch my legs, grab a bite or a drink, and use the rest room. After that it’s usually charged back up to 80%.
Honestly, decent battery range is more important than fast charging speed, unless you’re doing a lot of long business trips. More range means less stops on long trips, and less worry about remembering to plug in the car when you’re at home.
I’m in Canada so I can’t comment on anything to do with Germany, but I own a Volvo EV (2023 C40 Recharge) and it has been excellent. They don’t make this model anymore but they have a lot of EVs in their lineup. Bought mine used and saved a ton of money that way.
One trap people often fall into is massively overestimating the range they require. Plan your selection based on day-to-day rather than the outlier road trips. If you have cold winters, look for one with a battery heater. I got one without and that’s my only regret.
Thanks for the tip about the battery heater, not really THAT necessary but the winters can get pretty cold where i am.
What is the heater for
The batteries perform much worse in subzero temps so having the means to heat it helps to mitigate that.
Ah gotcha so like, the car drives slower without it?
Less range is the more significant impact
Whoa so even thought it uses stored energy for the heater, it makes a net gain in energy for range?
Batteries are complicated!
Usually to improve range you would plug it in so it’s charging at the same time. But they can also heat batteries on the go if the temperature is so low that it’s starting to limit power.
UK site, but good info here on 7+ seaters: https://www.electrifying.com/blog/best-cars/the-best-7-seat-electric-cars-for-families-range-and-value
That’s a nice list of cars to consider.
Station wagon
I don’t know the German market, but I’ve been really happy with the Kia EV9 for the two years I’ve owned it. Has 3 rows and gets 2.1-ish mi/kWh in snowy winter and about 3ish during the summer. Overall mi/kWh for the two years has been about 2.8 mostly city driving with some highway and occasional road trips
Checked if there are any near me, all are listed around 80k €, that’s a lot…
Oof yeah that is
Is the kia also prone to the same iccu issues as the hyundais?
As someone who’s Kia is currently in the shop to get a blown ICCU fixed, yes.
Which is unfortunate because other than this, I love the car.
Did you get the fall 2024 ICCU update done at the dealer or did it blow after that anyway?
I’ve been in for all the standard maintenance since owning it (almost 2 years now), so I should be square on all updates.
Mine blew just about 3 weeks ago, and is still in the shop where they’re apparently working with Kia engineers to figure something out.
I strongly suspect I’m the first one of these that has come in for this so they are learning as they go.
Yes. Kias are on the same e-GMP platform, all of which seem to suffer from the ICCU issues. It’s also unclear whether the software updates have fixed the issues, or whether more recent model years have fixed the hardware.
But Kia/Hyundai have at least extended the warranties on the ICCUs to 15 years in most countries, including in Germany where OP lives.
15 years, 290,000 kms in Canada.
Meanwhile, Detroit does nothing until a class action is filled.
I haven’t had this issue with the EV9 but I’ve heard of it
Most cars will show you battery capacity remaining.
I would look at an Ioniq 5, because they had an ICCU issue but they extended the warranty to 15 years and 290,000kms. It’s actually a large car.
Large car
It’s hatchback with a raised roofline. It’s smaller than most station wagons.
Was already looking at some near me, they look good.
The ioniq 5 was iirc the only ev that was as unreliable as ICEs in the ADAC statistics: https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/autokatalog/marken-modelle/hyundai/ioniq-5/?filter=NONE
The most important part of buying a used EV is to get a battery health report, then check the accident history of the car. I would recommend a station wagon because you have better visibility in it and are least likely to kill a child. I recommend you get an EV with physical buttons. I would say a MG, Peugeot, or BYD (not sure if the Seal station wagon is in Europe). Final tips: if you find an EV with an LFP battery then you can always charge to 100% and if you don’t have a way to charge at home then look for fast charging
Already planning on having a charging station at home, now just need to find a car that won’t demand i sell organs to buy it…
I’m in a similar situation. Looking for a used car with a big trunk. I hate that none of the used car websites have the trunk size of a car. And they really like to put all the mini cars into the same category as big cars.
Ye have that constantly and if you’re not paying attention you go look at the car and stupidly see it’s half the size of what you’re looking for, so annoying.
