So my wife got an EV a few weeks ago, used 2024 Cadillac Lyric with 7k miles on it. It was WAY less than MSRP even though only 1 year old, I'm talking 43% off MSRP and only 1 year old, I found a deal, and it has a 3 year unlimited mileage Cadillac CPO warranty. We figured between that and my 2500HD Chevy L8T truck we got our bases covered.
We almost bought a used Tesla because Elon is awesome, but she drove a Tesla and then a Lyriq and really liked the Lyric.
Some things we learned that may or may not apply to you but should be noted.
- The EV range is based on 100% battery, but they recommend to charge to 80% daily and only use 100% occasionally for long trips if needed. This is two reasons, its better for max battery life, and it also allows more regen breaking energy savings. If the battery is 100% full the regen energy can't be saved. However, even the DC fast chargers slow way down above 80% to protect the battery.
- The range in winter lowers quite a bit, between 10-40% I've read. That can change depending on if you warm it up while plugged in or from the battery, it will reduce range if you warm it up with the battery energy. If you don't warm it up at all, the battery will be less efficient until warm while taking battery energy to warm. Its best to prewarm it before you leave from house energy in the winter.
- If you can't charge at home (or maybe work but don't count on that), I do not recommend one. I did math using the home kWhr rate, and it could save us 1-2 thousand dollar's a year on fuel based on our usage for work, family, kids sports, etc.. But if you have to charge at a DC fast charger, you will pay 2-3 times the home cost(it costs a lot to cram hundreds of amps into the battery really fast, the car can take 190kW, at 300V that's over 630A!), and at that point it's cheaper to drive her old 3.6L V6. Luckily 98% of the time she will charge at home.
- Some chargers are annoying and they rely on an app to work, that's great if the app works, but if it doesn't, and you can't get to another charger, your going to be waiting. In the winter if the battery isn't warmed yet up you won't get fast charge rates.
So if you combine all this, then drive 500 miles in the winter to buy one, and it just so happens to have a coolant temp sensor go out on your way home, so the battery charging and efficiency both drop further and you have to stop to charge twice as often as you thought and it takes longer that it was supposed to, you will get home several hours later than you expected and be left frustrated. So frustrated the wife wanted to take the car back. I did buy a NACS(Tesla) adaptor before we left with it, but they don't all work even with the adaptor.
But once you start charging at home it's is great for 98% of the time, but currently if I am going on a longer trip in the winter, were likely taking the truck. Time will tell if she gets another EV, or switches back to gas. The truck I am keeping for a long time.
On the flip side, in warm months some people are seeing higher range with them as the battery performance improves, so maybe in Arizona the range will be awesome.
