Best BEV lease/sale deals, 2016

I have several friends trying to time the market in leasing or buying a new BEV at the lowest cost, as prices continue to fall.

Can those actively shopping for BEVs confirm the accuracy of the carsdirect reports?

Looks like the Spark with an effective cost of < $75 a month for a 39 month lease (CA buyers, post $2500 rebate) is by far the lowest cost option.

Considering how many people seem to think larger battery packs are critical to BEV sales, it seems odd that Kia has had to cut Soul (which has the largest pack available, without spending many times more $ each month for a Tesla) lease prices just to maintain its minimal compliance rate of Soul EV sales.

Best Green Car Deals: March 2016

...There’s no topping the Spark EV LT when it comes to being the best deal on an electric car. With payments of $139 and $0 at signing...

The Kia Soul EV benefits from a massive $30 cut in payment over last month when you opt for the value-oriented EVe model. Its effective lease cost of $255 is now less than the 2016 Nissan LEAF S ($276) and 2016 Mitsubishi i-MiEV ($283). Note that availability of the EVe continues to be limited to California only...

The LEAF ... Leases are not ideal, with the LEAF S starting at $209 for 36 months with $2,399. With an effective cost of $276 per month, it’s much pricier than the 2016 Volkswagen e-Golf ($224) and 2016 FIAT 500e ($235).

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http://www.carsdirect.com/deals-articles/best-green-car-deals

edatoakrun said:

Considering how many people seem to think larger battery packs are critical to BEV sales, it seems odd that Kia has had to cut Soul (which has the largest pack available, without spending many times more $ each month for a Tesla) lease prices just to maintain its minimal compliance rate of Soul EV sales.

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My less than 2 cents on this.

I think what's hurting the SOUL EV is the lack of marketing and availability. Most people don't even know that SOUL has an EV twin. Leaf and Tesla have that distinct advantage of being know as EVs. Then comes the issue of availability and support. SOUL EV is limited to a few states only.

When I was looking to lease an EV, SOUL EV was my top choice. I talked to a dealer in Cali but doing my due diligence, I talked to dealers in AZ about support. They were happy to offer me "oil changes" on my SOUL EV roll but for anything else the car would need to go back to Cali. Now, I didn't want to spend $700 shipping back and forth every time it needed "more than an oil change". While I could have really used that bigger battery in SOUL EV, I grabbed the opportunity to take over the lease of a Leaf.

Kia needs to start supporting and servicing SOUL EV in more states and advertise it a bit more. It has a lot of potential.

Your topic title should read ... Best (Compliance) BEV Deals ... as the cars you're talking about aren't even available in most of the US; I'd love to see Spark EV's, Soul EV's, Fiat 500E's, MBZ B-class EV's, etc. on dealer lots but probably never going to happen in the Midwest (some of these mfg's have hinted they might, but with decreased demand, doubtful). All we see out here is the rare, unique, one-off occasional import by an individual of say a RAV4 EV from a CA dealer being sold (still had the HOV stickers on it) and of course no one will touch it for service.

More main stream BEV's we get besides the LEAF and Tesla's are Ford Focus EV, Mitsu i-MiEV, BMW i3 and smart ED. Many more are the PHEV's but then again most are not compliance cars although a few are.

I think the main thing to consider when leasing an EV right now is the timing of the lease return with respect to the tax credit on your next EV. If you lock yourself into anything greater than 30mo, you probably will find yourself missing out on the tax credit on your next EV (assuming you qualify based on income). With so many 200mi+ EVs in the pipeline, it seems like you'd want to be able to take advantage.

Amazingly, according to this site:

http://ev-vin.blogspot.com/2015/12/current-lease-offers-for-selected-2015.html

California lessees who qualify for the new $4,000 CARB rebate can now get a Spark EV nearly free for 36 months, offsetting a total cost of $3845 +taxes and fees.

It would seem that if you live in the San Joaquin valley, you can actually make a few thousand dollars, by leasing a Spark!

And it looks like many other BEVs/PHEVs will bring you a smaller net profit, after the additional two or three thousand $ rebate.

http://valleyair.org/grants/documents/driveclean/Drive_Clean_Rebate_Program_Vehicles.pdf

edatoakrun said:

Amazingly, according to this site:

http://ev-vin.blogspot.com/2015/12/current-lease-offers-for-selected-2015.html

California lessees who qualify for the new $4,000 CARB rebate can now get a Spark EV nearly free for 36 months, offsetting a total cost of $3845 +taxes and fees.

It would seem that if you live in the San Joaquin valley, you can actually make a few thousand dollars, by leasing a Spark!

And it looks like many other BEVs/PHEVs will bring you a smaller net profit, after the additional two or three thousand $ rebate.

http://valleyair.org/grants/documents/driveclean/Drive_Clean_Rebate_Program_Vehicles.pdf

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I had a buddy who was trying to convince someone who lives in Stockton to go get one for him in their name. Pretty ridiculous when you think about it. The problem of course is that most lower income people who could take advantage of this, won't be home owners who can afford to install chargers. Many will live in apartments or rentals without this ability. However, if you're a relatively low income young person, living with your parents, this could be the perfect car for you.

Fire sale on Chevy Spark EVs and Volts, BMW i-3s, Fiat 500s, And Golf SEs?

If the source below is correct, all those BEVs/PHEVs can now be leased for 30-39 months at lower cost (more than $3k less, for the ~we'll pay you to take a Spark, after $4k CA rebate) than a stripper LEAF S.

http://ev-vin.blogspot.com/2015/12/current-lease-offers-for-selected-2015.html

8/13 survey posted, and compliance BEV (and Chevy volt) lease costs just keep going lower, and it looks like GM (+ CARB, $4,000 rebate) may actually pay you to drive a Spark for three years:

http://ev-vin.blogspot.com/2016/07/current-lease-offers-for-selected-evs.html

Notice the lowest rates are almost all in CA.

The LEAF S is now the costliest non-Tesla powered BEV you can lease in CA ?