Since the number of electric vehicles sold in Ukraine is steadily growing, then the average motorist should begin to understand their technical features. First of all, this applies to those who want to switch to an electric drive and are looking at battery-powered cars for the purpose of purchasing.
History
Remembering that most used electric vehicles arrive in Ukraine in a damaged form (broken or drowned), it is important to find out the history of the specific instance that interests you. If your car has been in an accident, you need to find out how well the repairs were done, namely:
- Has the body geometry been restored correctly? This can be done at a stand for checking wheel alignment angles – the so-called wheel alignment;
- The anti-corrosion protection of the metal has been qualitatively restored. In fact, it is not easy to check this after the work is completed, but a responsible owner can take a photo of the process or refer to the high authority of the service station where the body work was performed;
- Is the car well painted during repair? After examining the body by an expert, straightener or painter, conclusions can be drawn as to whether the surface has been properly prepared and paint and varnish have been applied. This is important not only for aesthetics, but also from the point of view of the durability of the coating and anti-corrosion protection.
- If the car was flooded, you should beware of problems with electricity, not only with the power network, but also with low-voltage wiring (12V). All electrical connections where water has entered – connectors, switches, relays, fuses – and electronic components after swimming can turn into a time bomb. If corrosion settles in these places, sooner or later it will damage the network. Therefore, it is important to find out how deeply the machine was submerged and how the flooded part of the electrical equipment was restored – dried, cleaned or completely replaced.
Resource batteries
The most important question for the owner of a used electric vehicle is how degraded its traction battery is. The fact is that the battery has a much shorter lifespan than other car systems. And the price of a new battery is commensurate with the cost of the whole car – approximately from 6 – 9 thousand euros.
Lithium-ion batteries, which are currently used on most of these machines, lose capacity, firstly, from age, and secondly, from the number of charge-discharge cycles performed. Other factors also influence – temperature conditions during operation, the number of charges at “fast” stations, etc. Some models, such as the Nissan Leaf, display the remaining battery life directly on the instrument panel. In addition, there are special applications, including for smartphones, that scan the status of each battery element. True, experts say that car hackers have learned to “rewind” (or “rewind”?) a resource in the same way as the odometer mileage.
It is worth saying that specialized service stations in Ukraine have already mastered the technology of repairing traction batteries by replacing individual, weakest elements. But it is clear that this is only postponing the problem “for later.”
Chassis
Just because an electric car may have problems that are more significant than, so to speak, nuances in its mechanical system, does not mean that the latter should be ignored. We highly recommend that before purchasing, you diagnose the non-electrical part of the car – transmission, suspension, steering, brakes. In any case, serious repairs of these systems require money, and for electric vehicles, some service stations significantly increase the cost of a standard hour – supposedly due to additional safety measures when working near high-voltage equipment. Fortunately, most electric vehicles have the same chassis components as mass-produced models with internal combustion engines, so there shouldn’t be any big problems with spare parts. However, this does not apply to electric vehicles of Chinese brands, which do not have gasoline analogues in our country.
In short
American statistics show that about half of experienced electric vehicle users choose a car with a gasoline or diesel engine as their next car. That is, half of the current owners of electric vehicles admit that they once made a mistake with their choice: they purchased the wrong thing for their operating conditions. To prevent this from happening to you, carefully examine the electric car you like. So that low mileage without recharging or quick repairs do not come as a surprise to you, by choosing a specific model, study its weak points and features, and then check out interesting examples on the market.
2024-01-17 05:20:20
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