Go On, Guess How Much A Used Ford Focus Electric’s Battery Costs

Used electric cars are a good way to get around cheaply and greenly – and they offset much more interesting petrol cars. But the thing with them is that batteries can cost an absolute fortune…

An American family bought their 17-year-old daughter, Avery Siwinski, a used 2014 Ford Focus Electric so she could drive herself to and from school. The family paid $11,000 (around £9,000) for the EV which only had around 60,000 miles on the clock. Six months down the line, the car needed a new set of batteries which would cost even more than the family paid for the car.

In an interview with local station KVUE News, Siwinski stated that “it was fine at first. I loved it so much. It was small and quiet and cute. And all of a sudden it stopped working.” The electric Ford Focus’ dashboard lit up with a warning message. As with any car-related issue, the family decided the best idea was to take Avery’s pride and joy to a Ford garage. Then it stopped working altogether – they don’t make ‘em like they used to, it seems.

The car needed a new set of batteries, which was going to cost $14,000 (Around £11,500) – a whole $3,000 more than the family paid for the car, and that was just for parts! We can’t even fathom how much that would be once labour costs are factored in.

It gets even worse, though – even if they wanted to go ahead with the fix, it turned out there were no batteries available anyway. Ford Auto Union in Pinellas County did offer to buy the car from the family instead… for a measly $500 (Around £400).

Replacing the battery pack in an electric car tends to be the most expensive and complex jobs to do, but it’s frustrating to see that a car with just around 60,000 miles that’s otherwise in good condition would go to waste because the fix is so expensive…. Perhaps the family could have saved money by getting a V8 swap for their EV like this Tesla did…

The family says those considering a used EV need to make sure they do their research before buying – while the outright cost of the car might be attractive, their story shows that the cost and availability of replacement parts could mean it’s too good to be true.