Electric car scrap in Edinburgh

A full electric car, a plug-in hybrid or a conventional hybrid: all three carry a high-voltage battery, and all three need careful handling at the end of their lives. We buy them from sellers in Edinburgh, collect them free on a recovery vehicle and pay by bank transfer to an account in your name.

The collection itself asks little of you: a recovery vehicle takes the car away as it is. The careful work happens later, at a partner facility where the high-voltage system is made safe before anything else is touched. We buy the car; we do not sell batteries or parts.

Edinburgh is around 145 miles from our Fort William base, and jobs in the city and the Lothians are grouped into scheduled runs rather than sent one at a time. We agree the date when you accept the price. In the centre's permit zones and tenement streets, we need the exact street before a truck is sent. Postcodes, districts and how collection runs in Edinburgh are on our page for Edinburgh.

Before the driver arrives: an EV checklist

An electric car needs a little more preparation than a petrol one. Start with the 12-volt battery: many EVs will not release the parking brake or go into neutral without it, so tell us if it is flat. Then the charging cables: leave any that came with the car in the boot and tell us if they are missing. Keep every key or key card together, including spares. Finally, do not try to charge a car with a damaged pack, and keep it parked outdoors in Edinburgh, away from buildings, until it has been collected.

How the high-voltage pack is handled

A traction battery runs at several hundred volts and stores enough energy to injure someone or start a fire if handled carelessly, so the order of work matters. First the high-voltage circuit is isolated by someone trained to do it. Then the pack is lifted out as a unit and checked. Only after that does the ordinary dismantling begin, from draining coolant and brake fluid to removing reusable parts. Batteries are recycled or, where they still hold charge well, assessed for reuse. We do not sell packs, modules or motors, and neither the battery nor the car is taken apart by the driver or on your property.

What decides the price of an electric car

When you ask for a price, the details that move it most are about the battery. What range was the car managing before it stopped? Has the dashboard shown a battery or charging fault? Has the car been in water, a fire or an impact to the underside, where the pack sits? After that come the ordinary factors: make, model, age, mileage, condition, and how far the car is from our collection routes. The week's metal prices play a part as well. Send clear photos and the registration, and we will reply with a firm figure that reflects the car you describe.

Read our full guide to scrapping an electric or hybrid car, see the three steps from reg to payment, or ask for a firm price.