How about turning over an old Leaf instead?

The first-generation Nissan Leaf was the best-selling early EV, so it’s no surprise that it’s the most common EV you’ll find under our budget. The car didn’t have that much range to begin with, with a battery capacity of just 24 kWh at launch. And Nissan’s decision not to liquid-cool the battery pack means this EV battery will degrade more significantly over time than virtually any other modern EV. Essentially, the first- and second-generation Leafs are responsible for the general distrust of EV battery longevity.

Used Leafs can be had for less than $2,000, but below a certain point, they become economical to strip for spares, particularly the battery packs, which can have a second life as static storage. But what if you don’t want a Leaf?

Well, there’s the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, which will always hold a spot in my heart because it was the first car I tested for Ars Technica. I’ll always remember how quickly its skinny front tires were overwhelmed into understeer on a highway interchange. Its one-box pod-on-wheels design still looks different from almost anything else on an American road, and it’s very compact for city life. But its battery pack was just 16 kWh when new, and it’s certainly less than that now, so it helps if you live in a compact city.

Other choices lean more toward compliance cars, like the Chevrolet Spark EV or a Fiat 500e. A few Volkswagen e-Golfs and electric Ford Focuses might show up in this price range, too, and I’m seeing a couple of Kia Soul EVs and even a pair of very cheap BMW i3s just within budget. And I do like the i3.

However, something to consider is how wide to cast one’s net. Sites like Autotrader will happily let me search for cars across the entire country, but could I drive an i3 home to DC from Florida or Texas? An e-Golf from California? At this price point, charging will be level 2 at best, and stops would need to be more frequent than the “every 50 miles” we were shooting for under the Biden-era NEVI plan. While buying a bunch of very cheap EVs far away and seeing who gets closest to home would undoubtedly make for an entertaining video series, in the real world, a long-distance purchase probably needs to factor in the cost of shipping the car.

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Ten new electric vehicle battery factories are on track to go online this year in the United States.

This includes large plants from global battery giants such as Panasonic, Samsung, and SK On, and automakers such as Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Stellantis, and Toyota.

If they all open in 2025, the country’s EV battery manufacturing capacity is poised to grow to 421.5 gigawatt-hours per year, an increase of 90 percent from the end of 2024, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the United Kingdom-based research firm.

But this industry is seeing some storm clouds. The Trump administration is taking steps that would reduce demand for EVs. And two battery startups—Kore Power and Freyr—recently canceled plans for new US factories.

I don’t blame anyone who looks at this landscape and wonders if a battery bust is coming. But I see a boom that’s still in its early stages—although the uncertainty is dialed up to uncomfortable levels.

I spoke with analysts this week to get a sense of the significance of the growth and also what factors could undermine the success of the new plants. The great unknown is how far the Trump administration may go to change the laws and rules that provide tax incentives to the plants and support growth of EV market share.

Even if the government took action to undo tax credits for battery manufacturing, these plants are too far along in their development to be canceled, said Evan Hartley, a battery industry analyst for Benchmark.

“They’re already built,” he said. “You can’t stop it, and the momentum is there. And most of them are in Republican states. It’s difficult to take away many thousands of jobs promised to your key voter base.”

So, whether Trump likes it or not, he is about to preside over a banner year for the United States as a major player in EV batteries, thanks in large part to the policies of his predecessor, Joe Biden.

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