Fiat 500e (2021–)
- Price used from: £12,000
- Fun, cool and the best electric city car
Pros: Ideal in a city, fun to drive, great image
Cons: Not very spacious, rivals have longer ranges
If you’re looking for an electric car to predominantly use around the city, you’ll struggle to find anything better than the Fiat 500e. Combining its well-loved styling and image, it gets a modern electric powertrain that offers zippy performance and range of up to 199 miles (from the larger 42kWh battery).
It’s not the best EV if you do a lot of miles, for around town and for local journeys, it’s an excellent choice. It uses completely different underpinnings to the regular Fiat 500, and is much, much better to drive as a result. The 500e has always been quite an expensive car to buy new, but big depreciation means a three-year-old example can now be had for £12,000.
To find out more read our full Fiat 500e review.
Volkswagen ID.3 (2020-)
- Price used from: £10,000
- Under-appreciated electric VW is good to drive and practical
Pros: Good to drive, spacious interior, efficient
Cons: Infotainment can still be annoying, interior quality could be better
The Volkswagen ID.3 received quite a frosty reception at its launch in 2020, and in all truth, it probably wasn’t deserved. It was more the ID.3, and Golf 8 introduced at a similar time, were just quite radical changes for VW, and its customers (and aren’t known) for being radical. The ID.3’s early infotainment wasn’t great, but software updates since have improved things, and the ID.3 is otherwise excellent to drive and a great deal more spacious than a similarly-sized Golf.
Standard kit is generous across the board, and the ID.3 even offers a superb range of up to 347 miles from the largest 77kWh battery, though most you’ll see for sale pack the 58kWh unit that delivers a more than usable 250 miles from a full charge. While a new ID.3 will set you back more than £35,000, you can now pick up a high-mileage example for as little as £10,000, or lower-mileage cars for £14,000. That’s less than what an equivalent Golf of the same age would cost you.
Verdict: Which used electric car is best?
Which electric car is best will ultimately come down to what your budget is and what you’re using it for. We’ve assessed just about every EV on its merits and usability; here you can read more about how we test cars. at For a cheap city runabout where range doesn’t matter, the bargain Renault Zoe would be our top pick. If you’ve got a little more money for a used urban EV, the Fiat 500e gets our vote.
If a well-rounded family car is the order of the day, the MG5 would be our choice owing to its spacious interior and low price, while the Tesla Model 3 is another fine example at a higher price. It’s hard to beat a Tesla for range and seamless charging experience, too.
If you want a more interesting EV, the BMW i3 is the best from an aesthetic point of view, while if you’re wanting to go electric with something you can enjoy driving, it’s hard to beat the Porsche Taycan for the money.
Is it worth buying a used electric car now?
Price is perhaps the top reason for choosing a used EV, with steep depreciation on virtually every electric car meaning used values are a fraction of the initial cost. Data from Cap HPI shows that a three-year-old EV is now 8.5 per cent cheaper than a petrol or diesel equivalent, and when the car reaches four years old, that gap widens further to 14 per cent.
If you charge at home rather than on a public charger, the running costs are usually lower than those of a comparable combustion car. If you’re buying through a business or with salary sacrifice, they’re also better value as a benefit-in-kind.
What’s an EV really like to live with? We poll real-world electric car owners
Owning an electric car is the new premium. Even opting for an EV from a mainstream brand signals affluence, environmental responsibility and awareness. The reality is that the best electric cars provide a perfectly sensible means of transport for most drivers and their families once new habits are learned. They also remain highly appealing for company car users, used or new.
New electric cars can still be prohibitively expensive, both in cash and finance terms, with long waiting lists and delivery times for some models. An approved-used electric car from a manufacturer such as Tesla or via Spoticar, one of the Stellantis brands, is available right away at lower cost.
Before going electric, though it’s worth considering a few things. Do you have off-street parking? Do you have easy access to charging? Are most of your trips less than 80 miles? If the answer to any of these questions is no, you might find a plug-in hybrid offers a better compromise.
How old can a usable secondhand electric car be?
Electric cars have improved significantly since the Mk1 Nissan Leaf was introduced in 2010. Early EVs would service most drivers well for pottering around London, but they’ll fall over the second you ask them to stray out of the city. Their batteries will probably struggle to hold enough charge.
Technology improved significantly around 2013, and we’d consider this to be the earliest year to look for a used electric car unless you want to stay local. New EV sales really began to pick up after 2019, when the diversity of models – not least the introduction of the Tesla Model 3 – coincided with targeted incentives, particularly around company car taxation.
How many years does an electric car last?
The longevity of electric cars is a question that is still on many people’s minds when buying a used EV, and ultimately, just as on petrol and diesel cars, there’s no definitive date for how long an electric car lasts. Similarly, how long an EV lasts will be partly down to how it’s looked after.
However, there are plenty of early examples of EVs from more than a decade ago that are still on the road, such as the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe, and that’s when they were fitted with small battery packs.
An electric car’s battery is affected by how often it’s rapid charged (as opposed to slow charged at home). Unfortunately, there’s no way of measuring this. When many electric cars are serviced at a main dealer, there will be a report done to show the state of charge. Ask to see this if it’s available and also make sure to see the EV when it’s fully charged to give you an idea of the miles achievable from a full charge and the remaining state of charge.
