I bought a second-hand electric car

Let me just say this; I am a 22-year-old petrol head who has grown up around cars all my life and I love to get my hands dirty under the bonnet.

For my first car, I really wanted a 1986-onwards Porsche 944 – so much so that, from the age of 15, I was YouTubing all I could to learn about Stuttgart’s unloved, entry-level coupe before jumping into what I knew would be a money pit.

Six years ago, the few that were on carsales.com.au at the time were either: affordable and in desperate need of work; or in good condition and out of reach of my budget. If only…

Anyway, my first car (which I still have) was something a little more modern, vaguely more sensible but only costs fractionally less to maintain. It’s a 2003 Audi TT quattro with just over 100K on the clock that now runs on adjustable coil-covers, has Team Dynamic alloys and few tweaks here and there under the bonnet. I reckon it’s a future classic.

I say this not to flex but to verify that petrol runs through my veins, because I now also own (drumroll, please)… an electric car.

Yes, you read that correctly: I am a car guy with a battery-powered daily driver. Not a half-arsed hybrid, or a stop-gap plug-in. A full-on EV. And I love it… there!

It’s a 2017 BMW i3 with the 94Ah battery, and I’ll explain the trials and tribulations of buying it and what I think about the car now in later instalments of this series.

For now, let me tell you why I wanted an EV and explain the difficulties in finding the right second-hand EV for me and my budget. It was like finding a needle in a haystack…

I absolutely love everything about my TT. It sticks like you know what to a blanket, it’s quick in a straight line and it makes all the right noises. I also love the design.

But I never want to fall out of love with it, or jeopardise its condition, by driving it all the time. To be honest, it’s not that comfortable for commuting and I can really only take one passenger.

So, to ensure the TT remains precious – both physically and metaphorically – I wanted something that was more practical and more relaxing to use daily, as well as something I didn’t have to worry about mechanically (as much).

About 18 months ago, I bought a same-vintage, unregistered Volkswagen Bora – with the narrow-angle 2.8-litre V6 – sight unseen for a grand. Let’s just say it created more problems than it solved. Every now and then, it wouldn’t start (usually when I needed it for work in the morning), the window switches and door locks were starting to fizz out, water leaked into the cabin and, most importantly, it was costing me a bucket load in petrol.

I wanted an everyday car that was relaxing and quiet to drive, reliable, didn’t cost much to run and maintain and was better for the planet than a heavy V6. The obvious solution was an electric car.

The EV driving experience is what I wanted: calm and quiet without compromising performance, and just as engaging but in a totally different way.

As it worked out, it’s so different to my TT that it now feels even more special.

Considering the second-hand EV market has yet to fully emerge, the next step was working out the options and, with enough time, what I could afford.

I only needed something that would get me to work and back each week without recharging every day, plus the occasional trip to the shops, to the beach or out with my mates. I wasn’t planning on using the EV for road trips, so around 200km of driving range was the target.

Initially I figured on a budget of around $30,000, which I thought would be in the ballpark to pick up something near-new like a Hyundai IONIQ hatch or a second-gen Nissan LEAF.

Considering the LEAF had only recently launched in Australia, there weren’t many used examples on the market. The handful up for sale at the time were low-mileage dealer demonstrators that were well outside my budget or were used Japanese imports which have all the switchgear and controls in Japanese.

There were plenty more examples of the original model that were selling for between $10,000 and $15K, but I became a bit sceptical about their long-term battery health.

The LEAF only has passive cooling properties which means long-term degradation is an issue. The set-up also reduces the performance and driving range in hot weather – again not ideal for me most of the year in Newcastle, NSW.

Besides, you don’t get much for your money with a first-gen LEAF in terms of creature comforts and conveniences. So, I scrapped that idea.

I liked the Hyundai IONIQ more, especially the range-topping Premium variant as it comes with a long list of features, has the latest safety systems and a bigger battery.

It offers more than 300km of driving range, has a Type 2 CCS plug with fast-charging capabilities and niceties like heated seats and Apple CarPlay and a big space. I also like its design and appreciated the fact that it has one of the lowest drag coefficients to improve range at highway speeds.

But, like the LEAF, the IONIQ is still relatively new to the market and the fully electric variant hasn’t sold in volume yet. Again, that meant there weren’t many second-hand examples around, and those that were up for sale hadn’t depreciated as much as I was hoping for – commanding prices in the mid-to-high $40K bracket.

Despondent, but not defeated, I retreated for a couple of months to save a few more shekels in order to raise my budget…

My new budget not only brought the Hyundai IONIQ and Nissan LEAF within touching distance, it opened up a few other options – like the BMW i3 as well as a brand-new MG ZS EV.

As tempting as it was to go for the MG, I am not a fan of SUVs. So that was out…

Then, the more I learned about the i3, the more it piqued my interest.

Carbon construction, the battery tech and the whole sustainable philosophy BMW applied to the entire i project – including the fact it built an entirely new plant that uses renewable energy…

That the interior panels are made from recycled PET plastic bottles, the seats use natural fibres and olive dyes and there’s genuine eucalyptus wood in the dash…

I’d found the EV for me…

It’s not pretty – looking more like a computer mouse on wheels – but it is a game-changer in how cars are built, it’s the most affordable carbon-fibre car ever and I genuinely think it could be seen as a line in the sand for EVs in the future.

Who knows, it could even become a classic – if ever there will be such a thing for electric cars.

Anyway, I’ve already told you that I bought one. But not after months more research, scouring stock around the country on carsales.com.au and a few hurdles and hiccups along the way.

More on that next time…

Related: I bought a second-hand electric car – continued (Part two)