Update: for VPP and leasing pricing (as low as $17/month net in Georgia, see
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/nissan-leaf-almost-paying-me-to-drive-it/msg372047/#msg372047 )
Update 2: I bought a 2nd Leaf and we're now an EV-only household
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/nissan-leaf-almost-paying-me-to-drive-it/msg412192/#msg412192I stumbled upon this deal by accident. I'd always wanted an electric car, but never wanted to spend the money for one. But my wife wanted to upgrade her 2000 Oldsmobile (it ran well but had some issues and guzzled gas). So I started looking into a replacement. I had no idea, but there are huge tax credits for buying a new (not used) electric vehicle. The federal one is up to $7.5k. Even Georgia (where I live) has a $5k tax credit--I was shocked. Georgia!? So I was getting very interested. Then I saw Nissan's incentives for the model year end--$3.5k rebate and 0% for 6 years. I crunched numbers for total cost of ownership for her current car, the Leaf, a new gas Fit, and a used Fit. Fit was the choice for getting a gas car for various reasons--also MMM recommended. For various reasons (mostly the tax credits) the Leaf is the best deal among the EVs. But I was shocked at how the numbers came out--the Leaf was the cheapest (see below). So we thought about it for a week and then bought one. Of course I did my research and negotiated and got exactly what I wanted--one of the last 3 or so 2014 Leaf S with upgraded charging package in the entire Atlanta metro area. I paid below invoice, including everything (charge package, floor mats, etc). What did it run me?
$29,500 (including everything except state fees)
-$7,500 (federal)
-$5,000 (state)
-$3,500 (Nissan)
=$13.5k
I financed the 26k plus state fees (GA taxes you upfront when you acquire a vehicle and then there's no annual tax) at 0% for 6 years.
I get the $12.5k in Jan/Feb when I file my taxes. But since I financed this part of the purchase price, Nissan is lending me the money at 0% so I can invest it until the payments catch up to it over 3 years.
There's also a full warranty, including a 5 year warranty on the battery capacity (if it drops below 70% range they replace it).
There's also a special Georgia Power rate plan for electric vehicles where it's 1.3 cents per kWh (plus fuel charges, taxes, fees, etc which total another few cents per kWh) if you charge it between 11pm-7am (when it's in my garage anyway), and the Leaf has a built in charging timer so it will charge when you tell it to (just plug it in when you get home and it will charge itself during super off peak hours).
So I'm expecting to pay about
$100 per year for energy (Edit: my electricity bill actually went
down from last year because of the switch to EV rate plan, even with charging the car), have about $0 estimated for depreciation after 5 years (after tax credits and rebate), not have to pay for emissions testing, almost no maintenance is required (no oil changes, etc), and I get to have a brand new electric car.
The only downsides are that it has about 70-100 miles of range depending on how you drive (but we have an efficient gas car if we need to go somewhere far, and we've driven the Leaf all week without having to charge it yet), that it's unclear what the depreciation will look like (but I plan to drive it for 15 years anyway), and there isn't a 10+ year track record of Leafs yet to know what the reliability will be like when it gets really old. There are options for taking the Leaf on trips (fast charge stations take it to 80% charged in <30 minutes) but it's obviously more hassle (stopping every hour for 30 minutes) and much less available (there's an app to show you where the stations are) than gas stations. I bet that in the next 3-10 years there will be a lot of after market conversions that would let you add another 100 miles of range if you can pay $5-10k for the batteries.
My average annual numbers at the 5 year period for our usage (we don't drive much) for comprehensive and collision insurance (required for financing), energy, maintenance, emissions, taxes (upfront at acquisition), depreciation, and opportunity cost of the money:
Leaf: $800
2000 Oldsmobile: $1400 (assuming it lasts 5 years)
Used Fit: $2250
New Fit: $3050
And the electric car is a great hedge against the rising price of gasoline. I expect it only to go up--perhaps dramatically.
The free plug that came with the Leaf will charge about 40 miles in 8 hours (super off peak hours) or I can get a $600 240v charging station that plugs into a 240v outlet (which I can install myself for $40 or pay an electrician maybe $200 to put in) that will fill the entire ~100 mile range in 5 hours.