Used Electric Cars for Sale

An EV propels its wheels using electric motors, with some EVs having up to three motors.

These are fed by a battery pack made up of banks of rechargeable batteries and are usually stored under the car’s floor so they don’t intrude on space. They can also sometimes be found under the bonnet, where you’d usually find an engine.

An electric car needs to be plugged in order to be able to recharge its batteries, and there are various ways of doing so.

If you are able to charge at home, you can plug it in using a regular three-pin plug, though manufacturers often don’t recommend this. Instead, it’s a good idea to get a dedicated charger installed, called a wallbox, at your home. This will charge your car quicker too.

After this, your options are public EV chargers. These range from cheaper, slower chargers to more expensive rapid and ultra-rapid units. As of April 2023, according to Zap-Map, there are more than 42,000 charges across almost 25,000 locations. So the chances are, you won’t be too far away from a charger.

There are two main variables to think about when it comes to charging times. The first is the type of charger – slower chargers take longer than fast chargers. If you want to charge in as quick a time as possible, it’s a 150kW rapid charger that you want to find as this will replenish the batteries in the shortest amount of time.

To add to the complexity, each electric car also has a different size of battery and can charge at different speeds. Most electric cars can be rapid charged in around half an hour, while plugging into a wallbox at home will allow for a full charge to take place overnight in most EVs.

Again, this will vary massively depending on the electric car. As a general rule, it’s the EVs with the largest batteries that are the ones that can travel the furthest.

A Mini Electric, for example, packs a small 32kWh battery, which only allows for a range of 140 miles. At the other end of the spectrum, a Mercedes EQS packs a massive 108.4kWh battery (more than triple the size of the Mini’s), which allows for a claimed range of up to a huge 452 miles.

Again, the cost will vary significantly depending on the size of the electric car’s battery, as well as where you charge it. Home charging is generally considered the cheapest way to charge an electric car, especially if you plug in at off-peak times. At the time of writing, a kWh of electric costs 32p. So, to charge the Mini Electric, it would cost around £10. But the Mercedes EQS, with its significantly larger battery, will cost £35 to charge this way.

As for rapid charging, which is the most expensive type of charging, this is currently around 74p per kWh. Again, with the Mini will cost you £24 to charge this way, while the EQS would set you back a steep £80.

Electric cars have lots of advantages. From an environmental point of view, they are typically far better than a petrol or diesel vehicle, though you do need to factor in the more energy-intensive production of EVs. But there are no tailpipe emissions, and many are made from various sustainable parts.

EVs are also quieter, more refined and smoother to drive than a typical combustion-engined car. With an electric motor delivering instant torque, they offer spritely performance as well, even if they’re not labelled a ‘performance car’.

There are clear cost advantages to electric cars as well. They still qualify for free car tax until 2025, while are free to enter low-emission zones, which are springing up in cities across the UK. They are also significantly cheaper to run as a company car because of their reduced taxation.

Range and charging remain some of the greatest disadvantages of electric cars. Technology has moved on a lot in recent years, but there is still a way to go – especially for those drivers that do lots of longer journeys and can’t charge at home.

The cost of buying an electric car can also prove to be quite expensive, especially when compared to other similarly-sized petrol and diesel vehicles. However, used values are typically closer matched because of steep initial depreciation.