Sparklebeard
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gero said:After test-driving a multitude of used, electric cars, I narrowed down my search to a 2016 VW e-Golf with the DC charger package and 30k miles. Sells for 12.5k before negotiating, tax, fees, etc. Car is a California return lease. It shows a 78-mile range fully charged. Should I be concerned about battery degradation?
Guess-o-meter range is heavily influenced by drive style. If they just drove fast up the freeway before parking and charging you’ll see very low range at 100%, if you’ve been coasting around local streets all week hypermiling it’s going to show very high range.
73 is rather short unless the car has been driving around pretty fast recently. Unfortunately there’s not really a good way to figure out the true health of the battery without using a tool like OBDeleven, or doing a bunch of test driving over enough distances to do some math based on distance and average consumption on the trip computer.
Regarding the battery in the heat; if you’re gentle with it, minimise DC charging and try to schedule charging for the coolest parts of the day, I think you would be alright if you’re getting a price you like for the car. The battery will wear more in Texas than NorCal, but it shouldn’t be worse than SoCal or Arizona.
In terms of this specific car, I would want to know more about the battery condition if the number you’ve been given is 73mi.
For comparison, my husband’s 2016 with 27k miles is currently sitting in the driveway at 80% and showing 81mi on the dash, based on the gentle local driving it’s done recently before it was parked. Would be about 100 when fully charged. If we took it all the way up the freeway at 80mph and parked, then fully charged is expect to see around 70-80mi.
So what you’re seeing is plausible to be seen on an e-Golf with a healthy battery, but I would want to test drive on some slow roads and see what the dash says.
Edit: not sure why I read 78 as 73, but you clearly said 78. Still a bit low, but if it’s been on the freeway at high speed before charging that seems realistic