Motoring19.07.2023

Cheapest secondhand electric cars in South Africa — up to 45% cheaper than new

South Africans who are too impatient for the arrival of more affordable electric vehicles (EVs) can save on some of the models currently available by shopping on the secondhand market.

There is a very healthy appetite for used petrol and diesel cars in South Africa.

As of 2021, as many as 2.67 used cars were sold for every new vehicle sale, according to data from one of South Africa’s biggest vehicle classified’s platforms — AutoTrader.

One of the major reasons for this difference is that cars tend to lose their value fairly quickly.

Buying a secondhand means you are likely getting a price closer to what you can sell it for.

The same approach seems to make sense when it comes to EVs.

Many EV sceptics often express unfound concern over the long-term useability of these cars’ large batteries — their most expensive component.

While the technology is still relatively new, researchers expect EV high-voltage batteries to last anywhere from 10 to 20 years before losing enough capacity to necessitate replacement.

Many people with reputable load-shedding backup systems might not be aware that their backup batteries were likely sourced from scrapped EVs in China.

Some might also be unaware that around 95% of the materials in lithium-ion batteries can be recycled and used in new batteries.

As the EV supply chain matures, it is expected that battery prices will continue to drop, which means replacements will also become more affordable over time.

Electric car battery removed from vehicle

But a recent report from Bloomberg highlighted the potentially devastating long-term impact of high temperatures on EV batteries — which should be of particular concern in South Africa.

The publication likened hot weather to “heart disease” for EVs. However, that only applies when people do not regularly charge the batteries.

In addition to topping up the battery, plugging in an EV can provide enough power to cool the battery to a”healthier” temperature.

That seems to be how South African Shaun Maidment treated his 2016 BMW i3, which recently clocked over 300,000km on its odometer.

Impressively, Maidment told CleanTechnica that the 7-year-old car’s battery had retained 16kWh of its original 18.8kWh useable capacity, a loss of just 15%.

If his driving and charging habits remained the same over the next few years, he should go past 500,000km with over 70% of the battery still being useable.

What you can expect to pay for a used EV

Given that the losses in battery life should be relatively minimal for EVs sold in South Africa in the last ten years, we investigated the secondhand options on AutoTrader.

At the time of our visit to the AutoTrader website, 170 used electric models were for sale.

The cheapest on offer were two BMW i3s — one from 2015 and another from 2016 — each selling for R399,900.

Their prices were around 25% lower than their original price tags bought new in their release years.

That was better than expected for cars between seven and eight years old.

Those interested in the i3 will have to look at the secondhand market, as BMW ended production of South Africa’s first broadly-appealing EV.

One line of EVs that appeared to have depreciated substantially was the Audi e-tron, of which 16 used cars were available on AutoTrader.

The two cheapest distinct models available on AutoTrader had lost 34–35% of their price, despite entering the market last year and only having a few thousand kilometres on their odometers.

The e-tron range has received mixed reviews.

Although the e-tron’s driving experience and comfort received praise, it is substantially less energy efficient than the competition, leading to relatively poor range.

Starting prices for the electric Audis are also substantially higher than those of its traditional rivals — BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

This price reduction is even more striking because Audis tend to retain at least 75% of their value within the first five years of original purchase.