Although Rich Benoit decided to recycle one of his Tesla Model Ss by putting a V8 on it, the best way to recycle a used electric car is to keep it running with electrons. We have talked about how difficult this is with more than once, but some companies are finding ways to help. While EV Rides does that in the US, Cleevely helps British drivers. Fully Charged went there to learn more about the process.
Considering EVs do not present emission problems, they could keep running indefinitely. The main question here is how much that costs. Matt Cleevely, the shop owner, told Robert Llewellyn he charges £8,500 to give a first-generation Nissan Leaf a 40 kWh battery pack. He gets it through a partnership with Muxsan, from the Netherlands.
Although that is much more than the 24 kWh or 30 kWh these early EVs could have, the cost needs careful analysis. These first-generation Leafs are sold in the UK for an average of £7,489, according to Motors.co.uk. That makes the repair cost more than the entire car.
On the other hand, if you consider that a 2018 Leaf Acenta with a 40 kWh battery pack is sold for around £17,500, it can sound like a wise investment. The issue is convincing a potential buyer that your 2010 Leaf with 40 kWh is worth as much as a 2018 unit.
It is evident that getting a new battery pack from Cleevely is only advisable if you intend to keep the car and use it for years to come instead of buying a new vehicle. Even so, it is important to beware of the insurance and also about safety levels.
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Newer cars perform better in more demanding crash tests and are generally safer than the old ones. If you have the bad luck of crashing your EV, you may also not receive a cash payment that is not enough to cover the money you put in the car.
The truth is that, apart from emotional reasons, replacing the battery pack in your car is not worth it from a financial point of view until cheaper solutions emerge. Don’t get us wrong: £8,500 is much better than $35,000. Yet, depreciation makes it a tough decision to make. EV Rides told us they are working on something to solve the issue and promised to keep us posted. We will update you when it does.
Source: Fully Charged