Little by little, the electric vehicle is gaining a foothold in the Spanish market, but its high price Compared to equivalent combustion models, they are leading numerous potential buyers to the second-hand market.
According to the most recent data from the automotive employers, Ganvam and Faconauto, operations with pure electric cars second-hand have been located in the first quarter of this year in the 2,611 units sold, which represents 0.6% of the total market.
Sales of used plug-in hybrids/gasoline rose 34.1% so far this year, reaching 3,626 units. By contrast, second-hand plug-in diesel/electric plummeted 65.8% through March, with 198 units sold.
but buy a second-hand electric or electrified car It has some risks, derived mainly from the type of use that has been given to the vehicle, and the difficulty of checking its condition.
Los manufacturing defects, driving behaviour, charging patterns and weather conditions can significantly affect the battery health of an electric (EV) or electrified (hybrid or plug-in hybrid) vehicle over time. Fully discharging the battery and charging them back to 100% can degrade batteries faster. It can also occur if they are frequently subjected to the higher voltages of ultra-fast chargers.
As they explain from Faconauto «with no way to distinguish healthy batteries from deteriorated ones, buyers are forced to assume the worst, a factor that drives down prices of used electric vehicles. From this organization, which integrates the associations of official dealers of automobile brands, industrial vehicles and machinery, they explain that today »the battery of a used electric vehicle is a kind of black box with many unknowns to be resolved« .
This It doesn’t just affect buyers., but car rental companies or commercial vehicle operators are also affected by the lack of knowledge of the residual value of the vehicle. For this reason they consider that “a healthy and lucrative market for used electric vehicles depends on being able to determine what happens inside those black boxes.”
Currently, there are different companies in charge of collecting data on electric vehicle batteries. For it take into account aspects such as capacity, state, load events and other relevant diagnostic information. However, there is more detailed data that is more difficult to access, unless drivers are closely monitored. Statistical data is useful, but it cannot detect batteries with manufacturing defects, for example.
Experts stress the importance of making more accurate assessments of the state of health and safety of batteries. Anticipate in the diagnosis it can help manufacturers structure warranties and plan how many replacement batteries they will need to make.