Why Not Buy a Used Electric Car?

This Photo Picked with Mark Mushakian in Mind

The first electric car I got to drive was the 2011 Nissan LEAF. I was an early adopter and it’s hard to believe that was around 6 years ago. I reserved one for $100, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to convince my mom to help me get it. $100 didn’t seem like a risk and I could get the money back anytime I wanted. Well, we ended up getting it, and I drove that car a lot! I let mom drive it sometimes since at the time gas was expensive and she had a Honda CR-V.

Now I’m driving a 2014 Ford Focus Electric car. While I like the Ford, I’m likely to go back to a LEAF for my next car. In fact, I listed the car on swapalese.com to see if someone wants to take it off my hands. It’s mainly an effort to save money, and I rarely drive these days but also, I miss driving the LEAF.

The Ford Focus EV is a fun car to drive, and its great on the freeway with all the extra power you get versus other electric cars, but Ford put the battery in the trunk. That means you lose a lot of storage space. Nissan puts their battery under the seats. It’s a better design, but in Ford’s defense, the Focus wasn’t originally designed to be an electric vehicle (EV).

My 2014 Ford Focus Electric

Now that electric cars have been on the road for about 5 years, their popularity is steadily increasing. While gas prices have come down, electricity is still far cheaper, especially in California. If you’re in the market for a new car, you might want to consider a used Nissan LEAF or other EV. I’ve seen several LEAFs on Carmax for around $10,000. Used EVs from other automakers are also pretty low-cost right now. However, used Teslas are still pretty expensive, guess I won’t be getting one any time soon.