I am now EV-less

My Kona Ultimate is now sold,... funds cleared and new buyer (online reseller) picking it up this morning. I got $47K for it, which is $5K more (after $10K govt rebates) than I paid for it 3 years ago. It now has 48K kms on the odometer.

I have an Ioniq 5 and a Subaru Solterra on pre-order, neither expected to arrive until late this year or early 2023. We do have another car, so will have to share with the wife. I also have an e-bike which is good for short trips.

The Kona was actually a pretty good car, and turned out even better than I expected when I bought it. And I kept my free charging streak right to the end, never paying for a charge on trips or at home where I could use nearby free chargers. Comparing the gas consumption of an ICE Kona, I saved about $6500 on gasoline during that time.

It was a tough decision to sell now, but my concern was that if I waited until the new cars arrive the Kona used price will be much less later. It doesn't make sense that a buyer could get a brand new one (when they are available again) for much less (after govt rebates) than I just got for mine. And used EVs are not eligible for the rebates here (BC), just don't have to pay provincial sales tax (7%). So I figured I better get what I can now, instead of waiting and getting much less later.

I will be parking the money in a hedged ETF that pays 6.5% dividend, so that will cover the extra money I will now have to spend on gas for the ICE car. We will miss the Kona, but hoping the new cars will be even better.

 

I sold it to Carooga, a local online reseller. I actually had another offer from motorize.ca for 47.5K, but came in after the sale was already pending.

Had several other private buyers offer full price, but they couldn't come up with the money. I actually wouldn't even let them see the car, unless they were ready to buy (if it checked out for them). And lots of low-ballers that I quickly dismissed. Highest Hyundai dealer offer was 44.5K.

Will be a long wait for my next EV, but looking forward to then. Garage feels very empty now, with the Kona gone. Will miss it.

 

Did you accept the trade-in ahead of receiving the Ioniq 5? If you haven't got it yet, you should be able refuse or renegotiate the deal. In my case, the Hyundai dealers here wouldn't even give a price for a trade-in so early, just cash now, and as I said the highest was only $44.5K.

Perhaps your used market might be lower there. On the other hand, with only fed rebate in Ont, your used EVs should sell even better. Quebec is next door there, and the EV market must be pretty hot there with their huge rebates, and cheap electricity. At worst you could do a fun road trip to BC to make a good sale. $30-31K sounds like robbery to me.

 

Yeah, but even 8K now (3 for provincial and 5 from feds) isn't too bad. The next EV will be in my wife's name so we can get the rebates one more time.

 

Haha, is there any investment that guarantees no loss of principal? The ETF is called ZPAY on the TSX. I use it to park money from time to time (eg volatile and uncertain market times). It is not a growth ETF, but utilizes an option writing strategy and pays a decent dividend while maintaining a steady price. It hangs around $30 most of the time, but when it dips into the 29s, good time to buy. It caught my interest when I saw how quickly it recovered during the March 2020 crash. With inflation, war and coming interest rate hikes, likely to see more volatility in the coming market action.
https://www.bmogam.com/ca-en/advisors/zpay-bmo-premium-yield-etf/

 

I noticed today that my car is up for sale at Carooga for nearly $50K. They gave me $47K for it, so a pretty good mark up. I know the car dealers said they look for a $3K profit when they make their offers. So this is pretty close to that.
https://www.carooga.com/vehicle/hyundai-kona-ev-electric---plug-in--2019/1010000357

 

Huh, where do you see that??

Edit: Saw this: "Battery range of 580 km" Yeah, don't know where they got that. Highest I ever saw was 525 kms in the summer.

 

We have been EV-less for a week now, and so far the wife and I have been OK with sharing one car. She doesn't hesitate to remind me though, that she has priority (that was our agreement). I just say she has to be reasonable, and so far she has. She let me go skiing last week where I had the car away all day, and didn't complain.

But what we both miss the most, is the 1 pedal driving of the Kona. I always used the ECO setting with level 3 regen. It made for very responsive, but smooth driving. The ICE car just likes to coast, and coast, and coast. And having to use that brake pedal all the time is just plain annoying. We still haven't got used to that now. ICE owners don't know what they are missing with driving an EV...

 

Hey, I actually have 3 e-bikes (> 5 years old now), 2 folders for travelling, and 1 mtn bike, so I have my short trips covered. So far sharing the ICE car has not been a problem. I do hate having to buy gasoline all the time, though.

 

I just noticed on the Carooga site, that my car is now sold. That sure didn’t take long…