Used e-Golf 2015 - 120000 km (74500 miles) - advise

[egolfisnice]

Hi Guys!
I'm new here. My past fours cars were all hybrids for some reason I recently decide to buy a non-hybrid ICE car. I have a bit buyers remorse :roll: .
Driven an e-Golf and I loved it as you have could guessed. Fun, comfortable and extremely cheap to drive in Europe.

I looked at my situation and I think it should work.
- travel to work ever mo-fr 10 km (6,2 miles)
- 6 public chargers at home and 2 public chargers at work
- although once of twice in a month a city trip around 120 km (74.5 miles)

I am looking for a 2015 e-Golf (average range is 80 miles / 130km). It has everything I look for: heated seats, css fast charging port, GTE seats and interior, keyless start. Everything looks good but I am trying to make an educated guess about the battery condition.

Anyways this e-Golf from 2015 has driven 120000 km (74500 miles).
- 24000km (15000 miles) per year.
- 2000km (1242 miles) per month
- 91km (56 miles) per day

My educated guess says:
- it was at least charged every working day the past 5 years.
- most likely charged at home and charged at work
- most likely did not use fast charge a lot (because for that mileage the owner needed a reliable infrastructure and also to save costs)

The full GOM meter says 160km range, with AC and heater enabled at an environment temp of 16 degrees celcius (60F). If that would count for 20% off than the full GOM meter might be at 200km range when everything is disabled. Which sounds good even though GOM meter is not accurate irl.

Even though it has high mileage I think the battery should be relatively good. What do you guys think?

 

[f1geek]

It sounds like the battery is still in good shape with the data you provided. GOM does depend on how you drive and operate the HVAC, as I'm sure you understand and if the seller drove the car very slowly recently, the GOM will give a higher range estimate. It would be nice if you could drive the car, say at highway speeds for at least an hour to 1.5 hours to get a better sense of battery state of health, as you could use a decent chunk of battery capacity and then calculate total usable battery capacity. Of course, if possible, get car inspected by a mechanic for standard mechanical items. At least in the USA, 2015 e-Golfs do not allow programming charging unless you have Car-Net service (requires a monthly or yearly fee), so I think that is a bit of a disadvantage. I guess it comes down to price. Considering brand new EVs have ranges of over 300 km, I would hope the 24 kWh e-Golf is relatively cheap to buy used, especially with 120000 km on the odometer.

For sure your daily commute will be easy. The 120 km round trip should also be ok since you said "city". You may not be able to get 120 km on the highway, but it could be very tight. Please realize the last 20 km of your 120 km trip will cause warning lights to pop up on the dash and you will probably get to see the turtle for the last 5 km or so. You should avoid the turtle if you can. It may be wise to charge up during your 120 km trip, if possible, especially if it is winter.

 

[egolfisnice]

Ah thanks for your reply. So I can't really rely on the picture they have shown with the GOM meter.
Can usage say anything about the cars condition? In the computer it stated:
- 15.3 kwh/100km
- 2900 km driven

I think the consumption of 153 Wh/km is pretty good.

 

[f1geek]

153 Wh/km is ok, not great and not horrible. In mild ambient temperature in local driving I am able to get below 110 Wh/km. In the cold at highway speeds I may get closer to 180 Wh/km. So, that number does not mean much other than telling you how the previous guy drove the car. To know battery capacity, you need to know what fraction of the pack capacity was used to drive a known distance and you also need to know the average consumption for that trip.