Buying Used 2015 in Az

Hello,
I am looking at buying a used 2015 eGolf (I see a lot of lease returns). I have a few questions to see if the car makes sense.

I live in Az. It would be used to commute 52 miles per day (round trip). About ~40 miles on the freeway. I plan on putting in a L2 charger at my house when I buy an electric car. Out of all the electric cars out there (in my price range), I like the eGolf the best.

I have access to a 110 plug in our parking garage. So I could charge at at work if needed.

Would a used leased return car with lets say, ~15k miles last long with this commute? From what I am reading, it depends on the health of the battery. But how could I find that out before buying it?

I see a few people live in Az. How are your batteries holding up during the summer, driving freeways, using A/C?

If you need more info to give a better response, let me know.

Thank you,

Are temperatures where you live routinely above 95 F? If so, you might want to consider an electric car with active thermal management for the battery pack. The e-Golf and Leaf don't have a way of cooling the battery while driving at high speeds or charging, other than passive heat transfer to the ambient air. If the air is hot, you get a hot battery which leads to fast degradation (depending on the battery chemistry, of course) because batteries tend to get damaged more quickly above 104 F pack temperatures and high states of charge. That being said, I think you shouldn't have any trouble with the commute for a 21 kWh usable battery capacity, but you are right to be concerned about battery health in a hot environment and how quickly the battery health will decline. The only way to know the true battery health is to get an OBD2 dongle and software that lets you see usable capacity in kWh. Good luck!

f1geek said:

Are temperatures where you live routinely above 95 F?

Click to expand...

Yes, the summer is usually above 95 F. I have been reading forums of other people in Az. Seems like most haven't had a problem. But good to know.

Not sure if I should wait for the 2018 to come out and pick up a lease return 2016.

Thank you for your input,

I'd be hesitant if your commute was over 65 miles. Not so much for the battery, but rather running the A/C will knock 5-10% off the range, and also bear in mind that the car begins downgrading your speeds when there's under 20 miles of range left. This can be very annoying (and potentially dangerous) for Highway driving. But at 50ish miles I don't think you'll see any issue in the summer. Might cut it closer in the Winter due to using heat. Is this an SEL or LE? The SEL has a heat pump, the LE does not.

empedersen said:

Not sure if I should wait for the 2018 to come out and pick up a lease return 2016.

Click to expand...

It's not looking good for the 2018s. There are currently zero, yes zero, for sale in California which means it's going to be even more slim pickings in Arizona. I gave up on the 2017/2018 e-Golfs months ago, bought an i3 for myself and bought the e-Golf to give to my girlfriend as a commuter car.

How fast do you drive on the freeway? Be honest...

I own a 2015 SEL, white with tan interior. I get 110 miles of range or more, guess o meter shows 118 when fully recharged.... but I drive city streets and Blvds. 45 to 50 MPH max. Driven at 65 mph, and run the AC... in 106F heat of day, now my max range is 91 miles of range.


I have a feeling folks are buying these cars to use them in the HOV diamond lanes of AZ, where the miles are hard and fast. If you drive it in the regular lanes, in stop and go, your mileage per recharge, ie range, will increase significantly.

The e-Golf has the range... if you learn to drive it nice. It loses range rapidly if you drive hard, fast, and with the AC blasting. The battery just doesn't store that much energy, about equivalent to 2 to 2.25 gallons of diesel in a 2.0 Golf TDI, range wise.

PM me if you are interested in a 2015 SEL, white with tan interior, cool in the desert with 17k miles on it, one owner. I am in Los Angeles, can assure you my e-Golf was far better cared for than a lease return.

JoulesThief said:

... but I drive city streets and Blvds. 45 to 50 MPH max. Driven at 65 mph, and run the AC... in 106F heat of day, now my max range is 91 miles of range.

Click to expand...

I'm driving mostly my eGolf 2017 at 60-65 mph on highway ... and I'm getting around 4,5-5 mi/kWt. And I'm thinking what generate more heat highway 60-65 or city 30-45 in my 30miles commute.
- In my case the power flow in one way (trying do now use brake and recuperation)
- In city driving most likely the mi/kwt will be better by the battery is getting discharge/charge all the time and it's generate a heat.

So, maybe highway is not that bad in my case.

YeGolf said:

JoulesThief said:

... but I drive city streets and Blvds. 45 to 50 MPH max. Driven at 65 mph, and run the AC... in 106F heat of day, now my max range is 91 miles of range.

Click to expand...

I'm driving mostly my eGolf 2017 at 60-65 mph on highway ... and I'm getting around 4,5-5 mi/kWt. And I'm thinking what generate more heat highway 60-65 or city 30-45 in my 30miles commute.
- In my case the power flow in one way (trying do now use brake and recuperation)
- In city driving most likely the mi/kwt will be better by the battery is getting discharge/charge all the time and it's generate a heat.

So, maybe highway is not that bad in my case.

Click to expand...

The key to city driving and not heating up your battery recharging it is by driving in a manner so that you time the lights as many as you can being green, and not having to slow down, or let off the throttle, or use the brakes, or use them as little as possible. That takes patience, and paying complete 100% attention to looking far ahead and driving, not multi tasking.

It's not easy, and it takes the patience of a saint to do so, but you will get more miles per kWh that way. If I can keep the AC off and crack the cars front windows, I am seeing round trips of 26 to 27 miles showing 6.4 to 6.5 miles per kWh here in the San Fernando Valley. I can do 4 trips like that between a recharge, if need be, but I usually charge up after just 3 trips. I try not to run the battery much lower than at least 1/3rd of a tank left, and try to fully recharge so it's complete, right before I drive off.

It's my observation that a freshly recharged battery, hot off the EVSE just completed, is worth an additional 3 miles per recharge, it your trip starts within 30 minutes of the full recharge being complete. YMMV, those are my observations.