The biggest worry when buying a used electric car? Survey finds strong battery health for used EVs like Tesla Model 3, Hyundai Kona, Kia Niro, BYD Seal and more

Electric cars are finding their footing in the new car market, but used EVs remain mysterious. 

You can’t check the oil, the service records won’t tell you much and the single most expensive part — the battery — typically requires full replacement if there’s an issue, rather than repair. 

Good news is that data from online auction house Pickles shows that battery health is in line with — if not better — than manufacturer predictions. Which should help allay one of the biggest fears of buying a second hand electric car.

The vast majority of electric cars on sale today have an eight-year or 160,000km — whichever comes first — battery warranty. These typically guarantee the battery health of any car will remain above 70 per cent. If not, the manufacturer will replace the unit free of charge. 

Battery health refers to what percentage of the battery’s original capacity remains usable and dictates maximum driving range. 

For example, if a car was capable of travelling 500km from 100 per cent charge when new, a battery health of 80 per cent would see your maximum range fall to 400km. Additional aspects, including fast-charge time, may be affected as well. 

Pickles has found the average battery health of vehicles sold to be in excess of 90 per cent, even for vehicles that have travelled more than 120,000km. Many of these cars would have travelled this distance in less than five years, which is an impressive result. 

Additionally, cars over four years old with lower kilometres retained, on average, more than 93 per cent battery health.

Data was collected from the ‘Pickles EV battery health assurance process’, which uses consistent third party software and has been run on 250 vehicles so far. See the below table for observed battery health against kilometres travelled. 

Odometer distance	0-20,000km	20-40,000km	40-80,000km	80-120,000km
Average battery health	98.2 per cent	95.7 per cent	94.5 per cent	90.1 per cent

“This underlines that Pickles is selling used EVs with very healthy batteries, as early data suggests battery health is in line with manufacturer expectations,” said Brendon Green, Pickles General Manager, Automotive Solutions.

Some brands fared better than others, though exact reasons why would be speculative. Hyundai and BYD had the highest average battery health rates, followed by Tesla. Partially this can be attributed to Tesla being around for longer. 

With advancements in battery temperature management such as liquid cooling and heat pumps, lifetime health has generally improved. 

Admittedly, Pickles’ sample size is small compared to the 90,000-strong new electric car market last year. The auction house had 334 electric cars come through in 2024, a huge leap from 2023’s 115 units. 

Naturally, the used market has lagged behind the new one but there’s an important milestone coming up, with the government’s FBT exemption for electric vehicles coming up to three years old in July. This will see numbers increase as cars come off lease. 

Along with bringing broader choice, prices are only expected to fall further in response to intense new-car discounting and a flood of the market.

Not ideal for those who purchased new electric cars, but a great thing for those looking to get into an EV without the capital for a new purchase. 

Pickles' data shows used petrol and diesel vehicles remain 20 per cent above pre-COVID prices, electric vehicle are back to, or below, those values.

Interestingly, the report shows that a much greater number of electric cars are selling to private buyers (51 per cent) versus the split for petrol and diesel vehicles (24 per cent) which are motor trade heavy. 

Green said that EVs may have attracted a “marginally smaller” dealer pool, but the private buyer interest is a good thing for Pickles and its sellers as they are typically less outright price sensitive. 

“In general, EV buyers are far more educated than any other vehicle buyer category that we’ve seen so far. They do a lot of research, because they’re all stepping away, often for the first time, from a traditional ICE [car]. 

“They’ve probably test driven them elsewhere and gone, right, I want a Tesla Model 3 with two years and 30,000kms and there’s three of them on Pickles already,” explained Green.