If you search for a cheap electric vehicle in Australia, it doesn’t take long to find options under $10,000. Listings for early Nissan Leafs, Mitsubishi i-MiEVs, and older imports make it look as though electric driving has quietly become very affordable.
For many homeowners, that price point feels like an easy entry into EV ownership. Comparable to buying a second-hand petrol hatchback, with the added benefit of lower running costs and the appeal of charging at home.
What those listings don’t show is how much battery capacity those cars have lost over time, and how that affects everyday use. Many of the cheapest EVs on the market can no longer comfortably cover a normal day of school runs, errands, commuting, and after-school activities without needing to be recharged in between.
The difference between a cheap EV and a practical EV often comes down to one question: can it still handle a full household day on a single overnight charge?
The 120 km rule most buyers don’t realise they need
For most households, a typical day behind the wheel adds up quickly. A school drop-off and pick-up, a trip to the shops, commuting to work, taking children to sports, and a few unplanned errands can easily total more than 80 kilometres before you realise it. Add a buffer for traffic, detours, or an extra stop, and the number edges closer to 120 kilometres.
That distance is important because it represents the point where an electric vehicle stops feeling like something you have to manage and starts feeling like any other car you’ve owned. If the battery can comfortably cover that distance from a single overnight charge at home, you don’t think about it during the day. You simply drive.
Many of the EVs priced under $10,000 no longer meet this threshold in real-world conditions. While their original advertised range may have been higher, years of battery degradation mean their usable range has shrunk well below what most households require.
This is why the cheapest EV on a listing site is often not the cheapest EV for your home life. If it cannot reliably cover around 120 kilometres without needing attention, it turns everyday driving into something you have to plan around rather than something that fits naturally into your routine.
Why battery age matters more than kilometres driven
When people shop for a second-hand petrol car, the first number they look at is the odometer. Lower kilometres usually suggest less wear and a longer life ahead.
Electric vehicles don’t work the same way.
In an EV, the most important component is the battery, and batteries age over time, whether the car is driven often or not. A ten-year-old electric car with very low kilometres may still have a heavily degraded battery simply because of its age. Meanwhile, a newer EV with higher kilometres can often deliver far more usable range because its battery chemistry is newer and healthier.
This is where many buyers get caught out. A cheap EV with low kilometres looks like a safe bet, but if the battery’s state of health has dropped significantly, the car may no longer be able to cover the distances a household needs in a day.
Understanding battery state of health, rather than focusing only on kilometres travelled, is one of the key differences between buying a bargain and buying a car that will quietly frustrate you every time you leave the driveway.
Why 2018 and newer models are the real starting point for affordable used EVs
Around 2018, electric vehicles reached a turning point. Battery capacity increased, efficiency improved, and real-world driving range jumped to a level that began to suit everyday household use rather than short, cautious trips.
Before this period, many EVs were designed around smaller batteries that were adequate when new but left little margin for degradation over time. As those batteries aged, the usable range shrank to a point where the car could no longer comfortably handle a normal day without planning around charging.
From 2018 onwards, larger batteries and improved chemistry meant that even after several years on the road, these vehicles still retain enough range to be practical for school runs, commuting, shopping, and weekend activities.
This is why model year often matters more than price when browsing used listings. The shift in battery technology around this time is what separates cars that now struggle to meet daily needs from those that still fit naturally into household life.
The illusion of the $8,000 EV
Spend a few minutes on any used car site, and you’ll notice the same pattern. The lowest prices are almost always attached to the earliest electric vehicles sold in Australia or privately imported from overseas.
These cars appear at the top of search results because they are the most affordable, not because they are the most suitable. Their original range figures can still look reasonable on paper, but those numbers were measured when the batteries were new, many years ago.
Today, many of these vehicles have lost a significant portion of their usable capacity. What once might have been a 140-kilometre car can now struggle to deliver half that distance in everyday conditions. For a household relying on the car for multiple trips across the day, that quickly becomes limiting.
This is how many of these early EVs end up being used as second cars, short-trip runabouts, or, in some cases, left parked for long periods because they are inconvenient to rely on. They are cheap to purchase, but they often do not provide the freedom people expect when they first consider electric driving.
Where “cheap” becomes practical for everyday household driving
There is a point in the used EV market where prices stop dropping, but practicality rises sharply. For many Australian buyers, that point sits around the $18,000 to $20,000 range.
In this bracket, you begin to find electric vehicles that were built after the major improvements in battery capacity and efficiency. Even after several years on the road, these cars typically retain enough usable range to comfortably exceed 200 kilometres in real conditions, which is well beyond what most households need in a day.
Models such as the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, MG ZS EV, Renault Zoe, and the Nissan Leaf ZE1 regularly appear in this price range. These vehicles are old enough to be affordable but new enough to still function as primary household cars without compromise.
This is the point where an EV stops feeling like a budget experiment and starts behaving like a normal car that simply happens to be electric.
The driveway test homeowners can use before buying
A simple way to judge whether a used EV is truly affordable for your household is to picture how it will behave in your driveway, not how it looks on a listing site.
Plug it in overnight at home. Start the day with a full charge. Use it for school runs, work, shopping, and errands without thinking about the battery. Park it in the evening and repeat the same routine the next day.
If the vehicle can comfortably do this without requiring a midday top-up or careful trip planning, it passes the driveway test. If it cannot, the low purchase price quickly becomes less appealing.
For homeowners, this test matters because charging at home is what makes EV ownership convenient and inexpensive. If a car cannot rely on that simple overnight cycle to support a full day of driving, it is unlikely to feel practical in everyday life.
Why this matters even more if you have rooftop solar
For homeowners with solar panels, the difference between a cheap EV and a practical EV becomes even more noticeable.
A vehicle with a healthy battery capacity can absorb excess daytime solar generation that would otherwise be exported to the grid for a low feed-in tariff. Charging during the day effectively turns your rooftop system into a fuel source for the car.
Older EVs with heavily degraded batteries often cannot take full advantage of this. Their limited capacity means shorter driving range and less flexibility to soak up solar energy when it’s available.
A newer used EV with a stronger range, on the other hand, becomes part of the home energy system. It stores solar power, reduces reliance on petrol, and lowers running costs without requiring special effort from the driver.
This is where the definition of “cheap” changes again. The value isn’t only in the purchase price of the car, but in how well it works with the energy your home is already producing.
Cheap to buy is not the same as cheap to own
The purchase price is the most visible number when comparing used EVs, but it is rarely the one that determines how affordable the car feels over time.
A vehicle with a limited range and an ageing battery may be inexpensive upfront, yet frustrating to live with. Frequent charging, reduced flexibility, and the possibility of further battery decline can add hidden inconvenience that outweighs the initial savings.
By contrast, a slightly more expensive used EV with a healthy battery often delivers far lower day-to-day costs. Charging at home is cheaper than buying petrol, maintenance is minimal compared with internal combustion vehicles, and the car simply fits into your routine without extra thought.
Over several years of ownership, the difference between these two experiences becomes far more noticeable than the difference in purchase price.
Resetting what “entry-level EV” really means for homeowners
For many buyers, the idea of an entry-level electric vehicle is shaped by the lowest prices they see online. It creates the impression that electric driving is available for the same cost as an old second-hand petrol car.
In practice, the vehicles at those prices often no longer suit the way most households use a car. Limited range, ageing batteries, and the need to plan around charging can turn what looked like a bargain into a daily inconvenience.
For homeowners, the more useful definition of entry-level is the lowest price at which an EV can comfortably handle a full day of normal driving from a single overnight charge. That point typically sits higher than people expect, but it is also where electric driving starts to feel effortless rather than experimental.
Understanding this difference is what helps buyers avoid the trap of chasing the cheapest listing and instead choose the cheapest vehicle that truly fits their everyday life.
Energy Matters has been in the solar industry since 2005 and has helped over 40,000 Australian households in their journey to energy independence.
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