purchasing advice + P1A15 code showing

[highdesertdriver]

Hello,

Y'all have a cute community here around a very cute little EV! Would love some pre-purchase advice.

A friend has offered to sell us his 2012 i-MiEV (SE?) with 29,000 miles on it. Sounds like they have cared for the battery well (running it down to ~25% before charging, not letting it sit too long, not sure about fully charging or not though). I took it to a neighborhood mechanic who hooked up his computer to it and gave me the codes that it read. p1a15 was one among a few. He also called the local Mitsubishi dealer who quoted him $12,000 on a new battery pack :shock: but it looks like most folks swap battery packs and components if they fail instead of buying them new.

Car seems to drive great. Powers on every time, and still has close to 60 mile range.

We don't have the facilities to do repairs / tinker if it starts to give us trouble.

Any thoughts on what a fair price would be / if this is even a smart purchase?

It's fun to drive and I'm shocked at how little juice it takes and how many miles it can go off a charge.

Thanks!!

 

[MickeyS70]

Hi there

It looks like the DTC your mechanic was able to read were old (non active). There is however cause for concern as an active P1A15 will stop the car from driving, if that happens the outlook can be bleak as spare parts are not easy to come by (mostly breakers yards) and repairs are done DIY style using the great resources from this forum.

You are correct, these cars are great fun to drive and are excellent in their role as a city EV, but try to go on the highway or trying to do long journeys will quickly reveal it’s shortcomings.

It’s difficult to gauge a fair price with the information provided. Usually a good start is to verify the main battery’s remaining capacity. Age and charge cycles (mileage) but also environmental conditions determine how well (or bad) it has aged.

Unfortunately there is no quick way to determine this SOH value, but for a quick range check check get your friend to charge it to 100% and then dive it to 50% yourself and see how many miles you get.

Mickey