One year with an Electric Car

[texasdave]

Nissan came out with the announcement that the LEAF will have the same battery warranty as the Volt at 8 years or 100,000 miles.

[kaldaniels]

What are the limits on technological advancement for electric cars?

I mean, in the mid-90's when the first computers with 1GB hard drives hit the market that seemed out of this world.

I know we are dealing with energy here, not gigabytes, but is it possible in 20 years electric cars/trucks will be able to go for 300-400 miles and beyond?

[JaxRed]

Yep, battery technology is the key. In 1982 I bought a Commodore 64 for the unheard of low price of $595. If I remember correctly the 64 stood for 64K....

So how quickly will the technology brings things down, and will something else be better (like CNG)?

The Tesla will already go 300 miles but it has more/bigger batteries and a bigger price

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by dabvu2498

The company intends to notify current owners and dealers early next year that it will make the warranty retroactive to cover all existing Leafs, offering to repair or replace the car’s lithium-ion battery if it loses more than 30 percent of its ability to hold a charge after five years or 60,000 miles.

Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2012...#ixzz2LXtwBapW

Well, that will give peace of mind to the buyers of new Leafs but it mentions nothing of buyers of used cars. If I buy a $40K car, I expect it to go 200k miles without too much trouble. Not knowing what the situation is after 60K miles on a Leaf, I'd not touch that with a ten ft pole as a used car buyer

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by JaxRed

Yep, battery technology is the key. In 1982 I bought a Commodore 64 for the unheard of low price of $595. If I remember correctly the 64 stood for 64K....

So how quickly will the technology brings things down, and will something else be better (like CNG)?

The Tesla will already go 300 miles but it has more/bigger batteries and a bigger price

And bigger "issues". Tesla has a $40K Achilles Heel:

http://jalopnik.com/5887265/tesla-mo...design-problem

Hopefully these are all just growing pains of an emerging technology but I'm not tempted to buy one at this point.

[JaxRed]

That story has been debunked. A Tesla can sit unplugged for months and months. Tesla's blog says about 12 months.

The only way to do that is pretty much if you are TRYING to damage the car.

It's kind of like the recent story where a NY Times reporter takes a Tesla out on a overnight trip, only to run out of juice. A trip many others have duplicated without problem. Turns out the NY Times guy did all kinds of things to sabotage the trip. Like not plugging in the car overnight.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by JaxRed

That story has been debunked. A Tesla can sit unplugged for months and months. Tesla's blog says about 12 months.

The only way to do that is pretty much if you are TRYING to damage the car.

It's kind of like the recent story where a NY Times reporter takes a Tesla out on a overnight trip, only to run out of juice. A trip many others have duplicated without problem. Turns out the NY Times guy did all kinds of things to sabotage the trip. Like not plugging in the car overnight.

What if you're in a fender bender accident? Seems to me that if someone rear ends you and the $40K battery is the floorboard, you've got a serious problem.

As for the Leaf, its limitations scream for a lease. Seeing as re-sale is up in the air and as you say miles are limited by the technology, it'd be one of the only cars I'd ever think lease first

[JaxRed]

That's why I said I would probably do a 2013 Lease if I had to do it all again. But I would definitely get one.

[757690]

Originally Posted by JaxRed

That's why I said I would probably do a 2013 Lease if I had to do it all again. But I would definitely get one.

The big advantage one gets with a lease for an electric car is that there is a big tax break you get from buying one. In a lease, the dealer gets the break and just subtracts that from the overall price of the car when figuring out the lease rate.

So, if the car retails for $40,000, the dealer gets a $7500 tax break and figures out the lease price based on a $32,500 value for the car. That can take $50-100 off the monthly lease payment, depending on how your work out your deal.

Btw, thanks for a very informative thread.

[JaxRed]

You're absolutely right on your lease information. And there are so many variables, and each on the variables is a chance for the dealer to screw you over. One thing that pushed a few more people to lease is the nature of that tax credit. If your total tax bill (not your refund, the amount of taxes you owed) was less than $7500 then your tax credit was reduced. So if your total taxes were $4,000 then $4,000 was your credit. If you lease you can take advantage of the credit no matter your tax.

Because I got the credit, the $40,000 (after taxes, etc.) Leaf really cost me $32,500. So when we are discussing costs, that's the real figure for me.

Since the cost of the Leaf is dropping $4,000 (it's more like 4 not the 6 I mentioned), the same model this year has a net of about $28,000, and the cheapest at $28,800 has a net of $21,300.

And some states have a rebate on top of that to drive down the cost even more. California is $2500 and Georgia is $5,000.

[JaxRed]

double post

[medford]

Originally Posted by kaldaniels

What are the limits on technological advancement for electric cars?

I mean, in the mid-90's when the first computers with 1GB hard drives hit the market that seemed out of this world.

I know we are dealing with energy here, not gigabytes, but is it possible in 20 years electric cars/trucks will be able to go for 300-400 miles and beyond?

That would presummably be the goal.

[OldRightHander]

I was watching a show on the Science Channel a few months ago called Futurecar. They had some amazing electric cars on there that people are developing, including some sporty looking high performance cars. The way technology is changing these days, it might not be too many years before they become a little less niche and even affordable for the average person. Right now, $40k is a bit above the price range for quite a few folks.