Although I’m a long-time EV owner, until recently there’s one thing I would have never thought to check if I was buying a used EV.
Recently a friend of mine bought an EV motorcycle. He soon plugged it in at a Level 2 charger and found he was only getting half the charging speed the station was putting out. That’s because in his case one of the motorcycle’s two onboard AC chargers had failed.
It’s something that should have been discovered or disclosed before the sale. But it wasn’t, so with that in mind if you’re shopping for a used EV here’s something you’re going to want to do.
Confirm the vehicle’s AC and DC charging systems are working properly.
If the EV doesn’t doesn’t come with a bumper-to-bumper warranty try to test the vehicle’s charge rates at two different charging stations during a test drive if that’s possible.
Why two? Most – but not all – EVs have two different charging systems: One is an onboard AC charging inverter and the other is DC fast charging. Each charging system has a rated peak charging speed that varies from model to model.
Level 2 AC chargers are common in homes and shopping centers while DC chargers are often used during longer interstate road trips.
If the seller won’t let you test charge it, get something in writing guaranteeing the charging set up works properly and stating the seller will pay for any needed repair if it doesn’t.
For example, the Ford Mustang Mach-E in the video at the top of this post has a peak AC charging speed of 11kW and a peak DC Charging speed of just over 150 kW.
The Zero Motorcycles SR/F in the video has a rated peak charging speed of 6.6 kW, although with charging losses figured in, it will usually only peak at 6.4 or 6.5. In the case of this Zero, different models have different charging speeds, depending on how they are optioned.
That sometimes holds true for cars as well with base models occasionally having slower charging speeds than fully optioned ones.
The main thing to confirm is that the car or motorcycle starts charging as expected.
Different models have vastly different charging speeds depending on a variety of conditions so I can’t tell you exactly what speed you’re looking for, but here’s a general rule of thumb. If you’re at a Level 2 charger, with rare exceptions, the EV should charge at a rate above 5 kW.
If you’re at a DC charger it should charge at a rate of at least 40 kW, unless the battery is above 80 percent of charge.
These are just general guidelines and there are exceptions. For example, DC-enabled motorcycles charge much slower than cars due to their smaller batteries and some slow Level 2 chargers are limited to 3.5 kW of charging speed – or even a bit less.
Once the charging session begins you should be able to see the speed you’re getting either on your vehicle’s display, its app or on the charging station display. The speed should quickly climb and then settle in.
If a charge rate appears to be really slow, it’s time to start asking the seller why. If the seller doesn’t have answers it might be time to walk way, unless you are able to determine the problem lies with the charging station.
The odds of running into this issue are small but since many used EVs are sold “as is” it’s better to be safe than sorry.
If you’re new to EVs and need a more detailed explanation or have a question about a specific brand, drop me a note in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer your question. If you’ve found this episode of EV Rider useful please subscribe to the EV Rider YouTube channel. It’s free.