Features / 5 May 2021 / Staff Writer

How much you can save when buying a second-hand electric car

If you want to buy a second-hand electric car in South Africa, there are several options on offer at a range of prices.

TopAuto investigated the price of used electric cars in the country following a report from AutoTrader which stated that certain models lose significant value in the first 12 months after registration.

This created an opportunity for local buyers to save a chunk of money by going the used-car route.

“A prospective owner of a new BMW i3 might find that its price isn’t too far from the price of a pre-owned I-Pace,” said George Mienie, AutoTrader CEO.

Electric cars available in SA

The range of electric cars available in South Africa is currently limited, with BMW, Mini, Jaguar, and Porsche the four brands selling new, fully-electric cars in the country.

An overview of the “entry-level” electric cars available from these brands is shown below.

Mini Cooper SE Trim S – R658,000
BMW i3 – R754,200
Jaguar I-Pace S – R1,942,600
Porsche Taycan – R2,227,000

This high pricing compared to their petrol-engine competitors is seen as a barrier to buying an electric car in South Africa.

In fact, a study from the IAA’s Munich Mobility Show reveals that in 2020 only 1,509 electric cars were registered in the country.

Second-hand pricing

To see by how much these vehicles have depreciated after being taken off the showroom floor, we compared their new pricing against their second-hand pricing on AutoTrader.

What we found is that you can save up to half of the new vehicle price by going second-hand route on certain models.

The findings of this comparison are shown below.