A Used Electric Car For About $1,000? – CleanTechnica

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Last Updated on: 13th June 2025, 11:19 am

Some years ago, I started wondering how the new electric vehicle market would expand with a greater diversity of models. Then, in particular, it was in reference to how long it would take for some mass of new electric vehicles to become used electric vehicles and how much the used ones would cost.

Mainly, this seemed like a valid question because the cost of new electric vehicles was high, even though when factoring in total cost of ownership, they may not have been any higher than their new gas-powered counterparts and could end up considerably cheaper. Then, I wrote an article about 5 used Chevy Bolts, each costing less than $20,000. This year, I wrote an article about a used Tesla Model S for far less than that price point. Now, there is an iMiEV for about $1,000, but it was non-functioning upon purchase and required some repairs.

The title of the YouTube video is: Driving My $750 Electric Car For The First Time!, which may be a little clickbaity. The purchase price of the used Mitsubishi iMiEV was $750. However, it was not running and required a little work to make it operational. Still, the cost of the repairs was a couple hundred dollars, putting the total cost of the used EV at around $1,000 to make it able to drive again.

One of the more intriguing comments was about the LMO battery loving cold temperatures. On an iMiev forum unrelated to the video, a commenter wrote this about operating an iMiEV in winter: “The imiev works great if used as intended (short-run city car). My daily commute is about 70km, and the imiev work great, even at -25c.”

The commenter understands the little iMiEV was meant for short trips and it does well with that. There are people who either don’t understand EVs and then criticize them or make up some lies to try to degrade them.

The iMiEV was first launched in Japan in 2009–2010. It was only intended for short trips with its range of about 100 miles using the Japanese test cycle. A little later, it was launched in the US with an EPA range of about 62 miles. For city driving, it may be as high as 98 miles, according to the EPA estimate. The Australian government’s estimate was about 96 miles. I believe this is probably for combined city and highway driving.

This is a tiny commuter car with a curb weight of about 2,300 pounds and the battery is a 16 kWh lithium-ion pack. For those of us who know EVs, this is a very small battery pack. Considering how small the battery is, the range is pretty good. Though, again, this little EV wasn’t meant for long-distance driving. The vehicle has regenerative braking, which is a big plus. 

Some readers might be wondering how much a used iMiEV costs and the same for what a new one cost in the past. According to Kelley Blue Book, for one from 2017, the respective answers are about $10,000 and $23,000.

To master the obvious, Kyle got a great deal on his iMiEV, which is not surprising considering that he knows far more about electric vehicles than most people. Judging by the success of his YouTube channel(s), he appears to be well funded, so buying a non-running EV for him will not be as much of a risk as for people with less money.

The point is there are used electric vehicles at very low prices that can be brought back to life, just as there are used electric vehicles in good or very good condition at affordable prices.