Posted on 03/09/2015 11:00:12 AM PDT by thackney
...Mr. Hoban expects between 100 and 150 of the leased vehicles to be returned to his Capitol City Nissan dealership on a monthly basis over the next two years as their leases expire. The problem: used Leafs aren’t attracting much demand.
With gas prices down 33% from a year ago, and buyers cooling toward electric vehicles, some auto makers are offering deep discounts or attractive leases on battery-powered vehicles and plug-in hybrids. Nissan, for instance, slashed the price of a new Leaf by $6,400 in 2013 and is now offering a $199-a-month lease, or $3,500 cash back and 0% financing for 72 months, on brand new Leafs.
Buyers who also get a $7,500 federal tax credit on purchase of a new Leaf, see little reason to shop for a preowned model and some worry the expensive batteries could have to be replaced. “Used Leafs haven’t really taken off,” Mr. Hoban said. “There is really no incentive to buy a used one when you can lease a new one for less.”
This has driven down resale values of plug-in electrics including the Leaf and General Motors Co. ’s Chevrolet Volt, representing another hurdle for auto makers trying to boost sales of alternative-fuel vehicles.
Other electric cars, including plug-in versions of Ford Motor Co. ’s Focus and Toyota Motor Corp. ’s Prius, are depreciating as fast as the Leaf with the average trade-in value in 2014 falling between 22% and 35%, depending on model, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association’s Used Car Guide. The depreciation rate on plug-in electric cars is nearly twice that of a comparable gasoline-engine car, NADA Used Car Guide found.
In December and January, for instance, the average selling price of a 2012 Nissan Leaf at auction was about $10,000, nearly a quarter of the car’s original...price....
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
A lot of government agencies bought Volts because of Dear Leader, so they aren't really losing their own money.
Somehow some people became convinced that Obama-Cars had surpassed natural law and had battery plants that wouldn't wear out like all the other battery powered devices they had ever owned or used.
Just because progressives defy man's law doesn't mean they can defy natural law.
A vehicle bought as any kind of a status symbol isn’t held on to once it gets to enough miles where it looks dated or a lot of little things need to be fixed.
Hybrids or diesels need a ton of miles in a relatively short time to make them pay off. Electrics are just status symbols or toys so hard costs aren’t as important.
Nice graphic...
But actually, a Carp came to mind, not a triggerfish.
Yup, and a very nasty one. Counting the pollution created during manufacturing and battery disposal, electric cars are in fact FAR more toxic to the environment than gas vehicles IMHO.
I don’t know about the Prius but a couple years ago, I ran some rough back of the napkin calculations for the equilibrium point on the Volt. As I recall, it was somewhere around 300,000 miles to be a better value than the Chevy Cruze (Same platform)
That said, I have every intention of getting 300K out of my Pontiac Vibe that I bought used for $6,000. I’m north of 260,000 now with virtually zero repairs.
Did you look at the chart comparing price drops for comparable gasoline vehicles?
Much more an issue with all electrics. Hybrids not so much.
“My biggest problem with the leaf is its appearance.”
Closely followed by the name.
I saw a charging station at a Kohl's store. I looked for a Debit/Credit card slot. Nope. Free fuel.
I felt like walking in to ask the manager, "Where is my gift card for free gasoline?" but I wasn't in the mood to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed person. Some other time perhaps.
ah I misread it - I thought they were all all-electrics instead of just the green colored ones. So about a 15-20% difference then.
correction 20-25%
“I saw a charging station at a Kohl’s store. I looked for a Debit/Credit card slot. Nope. Free fuel.”
Is it a city parking lot like the one near our local Kohls? As noted in my earlier reply, there are a lot of charging stations in our parking lots. Those lots have a time limit from 1 to 4 hours for the rest of us. The parking Nazis with their chalk, cameras with GPS are in the lots all day tagging cars. There is no time limit to the free charging spots.
We just got our annual senior citizen parking pass for the parks where we go and look at the free electric charging stations.
This year like last year, there is a $5 increase. Last year I commented about it and the ranger at the gate said we had the best price. I asked if he had gotten a raise, and he said no.
I told him, that it looked like the season pass buyers/holders were paying for the free chargers.
He just a little red in the face and said nothing.
Just to make liberal's heads explode.
“I don’t know about the Prius but a couple years ago, I ran some rough back of the napkin calculations for the equilibrium point on the Volt. As I recall, it was somewhere around 300,000 miles to be a better value than the Chevy Cruze (Same platform).
One of our younger relatives has an early inheritance of an OJ Simpson 1996 Bronco. He averages about 15-16 mpg. He drives about 100 miles per week. He rides his bikes about 10 K per year and lives within a couple of miles from work and he bikes that over 80% of the time.
He was getting static from his lady friend at that time to buy an electric.
There is a great Ford dealer where he lives, and he discussed selling the Bronco and getting an electric. The service manager told him the same data, that he would have drive an electric vehicle 300,000 miles to regain the extra outlay. He knew how much our relative drove. He entered the data on the calculator and told our relative, the new electric car would take about 55 years to pay for itself. Then he asked our relative if he would rather be in a big Bronco or a hybrid when some drunk in a big vehicle ran into him or t boned him. Also, apparently the big Bronco in good shape instead of depreciating, apparently can increase in value.
He told us, and we said that he might need a new female friend. He listened to us.
Well...it was a large Mall parking lot but there were two of them right in front of Kohl's with a sign, 'Sponsored by Kohl's'.
I don’t think buying a new battery with replacement/ancillary costs is cost efficient over gasoline use over 5-7 years for the new gasoline powered vehicles.
I was wondering if this would happen. I guessed right.........................
Years ago, I was working on a statewide new equipment rollout of computers and it was a road warrior gig.
One guy had one of the first prius’s and he had 220k plus and still had the original batteries and running strong.
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