price on a 2014 imeve

[BrenZenn]

Hoping someone can give me advice. I may sell one of my imievs. i looked up on kelly blue book. got trade in and private pay options.
2014 38,000 miles excellent condition etc. private pay 5639 to 8182 ave $6911. A friend is buying the car and I want to be fair but get what it is worth. It has a hitch attached work box. and the remote control and extra tires. It was my husbands car. He used to contributed to this site quite a bit but it has been a couple of years. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[BrenZenn]

Hmm... no one has an opinion. Not even, "Who is this crazy person; why are you selling it"??
It occurred to me that I should clarify that I am not a bad ex-wife selling the ex's iMiev. I just have two iMievs because one was my late husbands. I should have said so. Some of you remember him (Aerowhatt). I have been hoarding both of them, alternating driving them. But I feel I should let one go, even though it breaks my heart. The cars are brother and sister. They have names. Neither of us had ever named cars before. Laugh a little here; I know this group understands how precious these little cars are.
But, i need longer range occasionally. My husband didnt finish an extra battery pack for me, and I dont have a magic wand to squeeze two cars into one. So.... I was looking a PHEV. The Rivian is too expensive for the little driving I do. I am curious if anyone owns a PHEV and how many miles can be extended, by hypermiling. And if the same charger for the iMiev works for the PHEV.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts, Bren

 

[Phximiev]

Condolences…

 

[Don]

For what you describe, the average retail of $6,900 would be a good deal for you, assuming your friend is willing to pay that. I would be happy selling it for $6K to a friend, if it was mine

We have a 2017 Chevy Volt and around town it's about the same as our iMiEV's - We get about 60 miles. Same EVSE works for both cars. On the freeway burning gas it gets 40 mpg or better. The 2nd Gen Volts (2016 to 2019) go farther on electricity than the earlier models. There are several good PHEV's out there and I suspect you'd be pretty happy with any one of them. You might still be doing 80 or 90% of your miles on electricity, but still be able to go anywhere you needed, regardless of how far

Don

 

[JoeS]

Bren, thank you for your posts. Might add that you are in the Albuquerque area.

Your husband (Aerowhatt) and I had many wonderful technical interchanges, as we were both proponents of hypermiling our i-MiEVs, and had some lively discussions as to which technique was the best for squeezing the most miles from our cars. I miss him, and I respected and valued his many contributions to this forum.

What did you name your i-MiEVs? Ours: Mitsi, Mitti, and Moto.

The home charging cable for the i-MiEV is J1772, which is standard for all electric cars and PHEVs in North America. Depending on what your EVSE (charging station) is, your setup might not be as powerful as some modern ones (i.e., the i-MiEV only draws 13A at 240vac) but will work just fine with any PHEV.

Regarding the price of the car -

Your 2014 i-MiEV has a better battery than the 2012 and has the highly-desirable CHAdeMO (high power) port. That, and the trailer hitch, makes it quite attractive. I don't know what the configuration of your other i-MiEV is. Price is a function of many variables, your location being one of them, as I suspect demand might be very light in your area. Need to also recognize the limited range of our i-MiEVs, especially compared to all more-modern electric cars. To answer your question, if I were to buy another one, here in the San Francisco Bay Area I wouldn't pay more than $5,000 for an i-MiEV, irrespective of vintage and configuration and condition. Edit: That said, I agree with Don that $6000 would be a fair price to a friend for your particular car.

Finally, with all due respect to Don, you might re-think your idea of your next car being a PHEV. I understand the arguments in favor of them but can't help wonder if a modern BEV with a range of ~250 miles might not fully meet your needs? I, for one, don't miss the infernal combustion engine at all.

 

[Don]

Assuming she can find a 250 mile BEV for about the same price as a good used PHEV, I would agree with you . . . . unless she has a few cross country trips in mind. True, you can do those in a BEV too, but until charging stations get a bit more convenient, a BEV wouldn't be my first choice

In a good PHEV, you don't even realize when that infernal engine is running and when it isn't and you certainly don't have to service it very often either

Don

 

[BrenZenn]

For what you describe, the average retail of $6,900 would be a good deal for you, assuming your friend is willing to pay that. I would be happy selling it for $6K to a friend, if it was mine

We have a 2017 Chevy Volt and around town it's about the same as our iMiEV's - We get about 60 miles. Same EVSE works for both cars.

Don

Thank you Don, that really helps. I really appreciate your feedback. Bren

 

[BrenZenn]

Your husband (Aerowhatt) and I had many wonderful technical interchanges, as we were both proponents of hypermiling our i-MiEVs, and had some lively discussions as to which technique was the best for squeezing the most miles from our cars. I miss him, and I respected and valued his many contributions to this forum.

YES I REMEMBER YOU COMMENTED ON YOUR RELATIONSHIP LAST YEAR. THANK YOU.

What did you name your i-MiEVs? Ours: Mitsi, Mitti, and Moto.

HIS WAS SPARKY (I NAMED IT JOKINGLY , BUT IT STUCK). MINE IS TABBY SHORT FOR TABATHA (ITS A BLACK LITTLE CUTIE).

The home charging cable for the i-MiEV is J1772, which is standard for all electric cars and PHEVs in North America. Depending on what your EVSE (charging station) is, your setup might not be as powerful as some modern ones (i.e., the i-MiEV only draws 13A at 240vac) but will work just fine with any PHEV.

I DONT KNOW HOW TO CHARGE WITHOUT MY OUT CHARGER. LIKE AT SOMEONE HOUSE?

Finally, with all due respect to Don, you might re-think your idea of your next car being a PHEV. I understand the arguments in favor of them but can't help wonder if a modern BEV with a range of ~250 miles might not fully meet your needs? I, for one, don't miss the infernal combustion engine at all.

YEAH THE STINK IN THE GARAGE, YUCK.

I AM NOT SELLING MY CAR. BUT I HAVE THE TWO IMIEVS AND THEN I USE MY SON'S HORRIBLE NISSAN CUBE TO GO UP TO SANTA FE/PECOS. I WANT TO DITCH THE CUBE. I SAW A REVIEW OF THE MITIBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV. THE ONE COMPLAINT WAS THE ENGINE. IT WAS SAID TO WORK GREAT, SEAMLESS, BUT IT WAS THAT SAD MOMENT KNOWING YOU WERE SLIPPING BACK INTO THE DARK AGES, AND WISHING IT WAS FULL ELECTRIC. SO I WAS CURIOUS HOW MANY ACTUAL ALL ELECTRIC MILES IT COULD GET .
WHICH I WOULD PREFER A BEV. BUT I STILL DONT WANT A TESLA AND DIDNT LIKE THE LEAF. I LOVE THE RIVIAN TRUCK BUT UNLESS I LIVE IN IT (THINKING ABOUT IT), I CANT JUSTIFY THE ARROGANCE. I COULD HOLD OUT A LITTLE LONGER ON A PURCHASE, THERE ARE SOME NEW PLAYERS COMING; HYUNDAI ETC. I WOULD LIKE A TRUCK OR SUV TO CARRY THE THINGS TABBY CANT AND FOR GOING FARTHER. AND WILL KEEP MY LITTLE TABBY FOREVER.

Edited for format by JoeS

 

[JoeS]

Bren, thank you for providing us with a bit more insight. I took the liberty of tidying up your post a bit.

I'll tackle two topics: (1) charging at someone's house and (2) future BEV/PHEV choices for you.

(1) To charge your i-MiEV at someone's house, you need the portable EVSE (charging station also called a charging cable or often incorrectly called a charger) that came with each of your cars. I don't have a picture of one handy but just so you can see what one looks like I see this one for sale on eBay that I believe was for a 2016 or 2014(?) as it has the two position switch to go between 8A and 12A. From the factory this EVSE came only for level 1 (120vac) and has a standard household three-prong plug on it. (NOTE: do not buy this!)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163083591160

The 2012 one is similar but only offers one charging current (8A). You simply carry this with you in the car and plug one end into a house outlet and the other end into the i-MiEV.

To further confuse things, your husband may have had this little charging station modified to work on both 120vac and 240vac (many of us did this). In this case the plug that goes into the wall will have three circular pins on it and not the usual straight three prongs. To make this work on 120vac there should be a short adapter cable that will mate with these three circular pins and the other end simply has a normal household 120vac three-prong plug. To make this EVSE work on 240vac (the circular three pin connector is called a NEMA L6-20) your husband may have put a mating outlet in your garage. Also, there might be another adapter cable or plug with it that would allow this EVSE to plug into, for example, a 240vac dryer outlet, allowing you to charge the i-MiEV significantly faster than using the normal household 120vac outlet.

WHEW!

(2) Now, on to possible BEVs for you, all with ranges around 250 miles, and basic utility vehicles rather than sedans. Currently on the market and available used are the Chevy Bolt, the Hyundai Kona EV, and the Kia Niro EV. New there are a number of additional choices, and the field is continuously changing. This is just one of a number of websites where you can browse the currently-available new BEVs and PHEVs:

https://plugstar.com/cars/browse

(first go to the left side of the screen and select your initial options/filters and enter your ZIP code)

Feel free to post here with any questions you may have, and I'm sure others will chime in with their suggestions and preferences.

 

[pbui19]

so sorry to hear about Aerowhatt, we had a lively exchange a few years back and my current household power outage backup system incorporated many of his suggestion.

Another 2014 iMiev good feature is that it may have the more robust inverter/charger.

I just drove through Albuquerque a few days ago, coming back from Salina, KS in a 2016 90D. I'm totally with Joes about staying all electric. We have 2 Bolts, 1 Volt, which is a PHEV with 50-60 emiles, and of course an iMiev (2014). With the current Bolt fire recall, and if I were in the market, I would try to pick up an used Bolt for a deal. I've regularly driven our Bolts between SF Bay Area and LA. The current Infrastructure Deal has plan for significant increase in charging network, even there's rumor that Tesla may be opening up their supercharging station to non-Tesla

 

[BrenZenn]

Thank You Joe, yes I have one of the those "chargers" near the regular charger. I've been ignoring it. Now i know what it is for. Thank you for being so detailed. I wish I had paid more attention to the details when Tony was here. You should see my solar mess! batteries built from scatch. He did nothing conventional. Ive been ignoring that too. It still works.

 

[BrenZenn]

so sorry to hear about Aerowhatt, we had a lively exchange a few years back and my current household power outage backup system incorporated many of his suggestion.

Another 2014 iMiev good feature is that it may have the more robust inverter/charger.

I just drove through Albuquerque a few days ago, coming back from Salina, KS in a 2016 90D. I'm totally with Joes about staying all electric. We have 2 Bolts, 1 Volt, which is a PHEV with 50-60 emiles, and of course an iMiev (2014). With the current Bolt fire recall, and if I were in the market, I would try to pick up an used Bolt for a deal. I've regularly driven our Bolts between SF Bay Area and LA. The current Infrastructure Deal has plan for significant increase in charging network, even there's rumor that Tesla may be opening up their supercharging station to non-Tesla

Thank you. Yeah, I wish I could hook up another battery pack and I would keep them both. I don't want to go do the oil changes, gas station or the emissions. I hope you are right about Tesla and hopefully Rivian's charging stations being used by everyone. And while they are at it, convert all of our trains to electric and then I may have a reason to hope for the future. wink