For 2012, the best-selling pure electric vehicle was the Nissan Leaf. What better way of increasing adoption of electric vehicles could there be than to reduce the upfront pricing?
Electric vehicle marketing hasn’t been easy, especially when potential buyers weigh the upfront costs of the high-tech vehicle against the limitations inherent to vehicles powered by rechargeable batteries.
It’s hard to customers to wrap their heads around the refueling savings they’ll experience in the future compared to the cost to buy the vehicle right now. Depending on which vehicle you are talking about, the rechargeable battery pack could actually be the most expensive component of the vehicle, which drives the cost up considerably.
In the case of a Nissan Leaf on the German Nissan website, this is $44,278 before tax incentives, which compares to modestly-equipped Lexus IS350 AWD. The Nissan Leaf is, by far, not a luxury sport sedan. Still, those interested in the Nissan Leaf won’t be looking for the kind of handling that the Lexus IS offers, since the IS only gets 22mpg combined and the Leaf is rated at least 102mpge. Cost reduction goes a long way to making this electric vehicle more appealing, and Nissan, at least in the EU, is now offering a battery lease program.
For $108/mo, Nissan financing will take $7,700 off the purchase price of the vehicle, but you have to keep your mileage below 7,500mi/yr. The average UK driver drives up to 12,000mi/yr, while electric vehicle drivers average just over 8,000mi/yr, so this might require some adjustment on the part of the the Nissan Leaf drivers who opt for the battery lease program. Could such a financing option make it here to the US, and would people go for it?
