I see a couple of i3s in buy&sell sites in my city. They’re usually 2016-2018 models selling from $9k to $15k and mileage ranging from 40k to 80k. Some of them are pure EVs and others have the range extender (~80 miles of gas range). Some have upgraded infotainment that supports wireless Apple carplay, and some have only like 80 miles of range left.
Just from the visual POV, it looks like a fun little car to use for general city driving (work, groceries, errands, etc.). An EV for less than $15k that isn’t an older generation Nissan Leaf is pretty rare to find too. Are these models any good?
With any EV that old you’ll need to check the battery state of health. Batteries degrade from charging, from sitting at very low or high charges (the nmc cells at least) and time. Take the range left, divide it by half and if that still fits your needs, you should be good to go over next few years. Be sure to be able to charge at home or at work as those commuters with their smaller batteries usually won’t have the range to get you through the week without recharging.
That’s all pretty central EV advice and applies to the i3 just as it would apply to an older leaf, e-up or zoe. Other than that, what I’ve heard about the i3 was exclusively good and I don’t see how it wouldn’t be a great commuter. Haven’t driven one yet though.