The flip side is the likely fast depreciation.
I suspect that this will be the case with more VWs than just the eGolf. If you are lucky, it will happen at least partly on the lot, before you buy the car.
The flip side is the likely fast depreciation.
The % of potential customers who will qualify to get the full incentives, especially the federal tax credit, will decrease once the price drops below $30k. There was an article a while back at IEVS, GCR or one of the other EV websites which said that the size of the potential market doubles (or halves) for every $5k change in the price up or down. I believe all the companies selling PEVs have factored incentives into their MSRPs, and I expect that once the incentives go away the MSRPs will drop considerably. I imagine they hope they'll be able to make a profit at the lower price by then.DarthPuppy said:I think the present price point is viable thanks to incentives. The ICE Golf starts at $20k. The e-Golf starts at $29k. With the federal and California incentives, the e-Golf can be had for a net $19k. And then you have all of the savings of not having to buy gas, do oil changes, longer lasting brakes, etc. And my commute would benefit greatly from HOV access if that is still available.
The flip side is the likely fast depreciation. But that only really bites you if you sell it or it gets into an accident and the insurance sticks you with a small check. Granted, one could reasonably expect an ICE Golf to run 10-20 years and go 200k+ miles. So we aren't apples-apples. In theory, the e-golf should be able to do that too, just with replacing the batteries, which is probably less than the gas, oil changes, etc. accumulate to by the time the battery needs to be changed. However, as noted elsewhere on this forum, people are reluctant to invest in batteries for a number of reasons.
The above of course assumes VW doesn't jack the price up on the 2017.
http://insideevs.com/volkswagen-says-tesla-model-3-will-expensive-aims/Volkswagen Feels Tesla Model 3 Will Be Too Expensive – Aims For Mid $20,000, 300-Mile Electric Golf
At the upcoming Paris Motor Show, Volkswagen claims that it will reveal a prototype of a long-range electric car that will eventually be sold for approximately the price of a conventional, gas-powered Golf. . . .
According to VW, the planned electric car will have a 300-mile range (likely NEDC, so more like 200ish miles in the real world/EPA) and it will be able to charge in 15 minutes or so. The car will reportedly be Golf-based, which likely means that it’ll ride on the same MEB platform as the next-generation Golf, but the similarities may end there. . . .
The company is saying that the on-sale target date for this e-Golf is 2025. . . .
2017 Volkswagen e-Golf: 124 miles of range, more motor power, LA Auto Show debut
Which IMO is a deal breaker! Coming from a cold climate I'd trade the heated seats for heated steering wheel any day, both are even betterLeftieBiker said:I'll bet it still doesn't have a heated steering wheel.
redLEAF said:I've got an 'early' deposit (3/31 of this year) for a Tesla Model 3 but my '12 LEAF SL with 45K miles and down one battery capacity 'bar' is barely making my new longer commute (even at 100% charge) in the winter so I'm getting a '15 e-Golf with just over 1K miles on it for $18K that will be my 'stop gap' EV until the Model 3 becomes available -- after my LEAF trade-in I'm out-of-pocket around $13K for a next to new EV. Although I didn't get to drive one, I like the multiple regen options, better ride/handling, heated windshield glass (similar to the rear defroster) that the e-Golf offers -- I've owned VW's for years (still have 2 ICE's from them) and despite dieselgate this e-Golf looks like a great effort. Even if I can only get $5K for it once the Model 3 is available (I'm predicting about 2 years plus from now) its still a lot less than opting to buy/lease a Tesla Model S (which I did consider) and even a bit less that buying a new LEAF SV (at least around Chicagoland -- not much inventory and would have to go through the whole Fed Tax Credit and paying extra sales tax up front, etc.). I had also thought about opting for an on-my-own-dime $6K lizard battery replacement but my LEAF has now gone through 4+ Midwest winters and it still has the less efficient heater, etc. -- I did check with my local VW dealer first and all their tech's are EV certified to work on the e-Golf probably in anticipation of the US-wide rollout of next year's model.
Will update once I get it -- we don't get these in the Midwest at all yet so its coming in from the east coast; should see it in 3 weeks or less. They had a recent long-term wrap up test in Automobile that duplicates a lot of the same conditions we have here:
http://www.automobilemag.com/news/2015-volkswagen-e-golf-sel-premium-one-year-review/
My VW dealer is really bending over backwards to keep customers (really hard once your reputation has been damaged like this) but they've really always treated me fairly, are really convenient to drop off (and get service loaners) a short distance from where we live so back in late '11 when we bought our LEAF if VW offered this car, would have easily chosen them over Nissan. The LEAF did OK but a few things with it always bugged me (thin paint, inefficient heater, poorly designed electric windows/switches, etc.) enough for a change sooner than I expected -- I do give Nissan a LOT of credit for being first with 'affordable' EV's but they'll need to step their game up with the latest new entrants; and NO VW isn't there quite yet but for this kind of money and timing it should work for me.
IMHO, I really love the e-Golf -- especially for how it doesn't look grotesquely like an EV.redLEAF said:so I'm getting a '15 e-Golf
jlv said:IMHO, I really love the e-Golf -- especially for how it doesn't look grotesquely like an EV.redLEAF said:so I'm getting a '15 e-Golf
But, the first few years of e-Golf's have a really bad misfeature if you use shared EVSEs -- the car always locks the charge cord, and it can only be unlocked by the owner of the car. Here at work we have about 40 parking spots served by 20 EVSEs. If you end up getting parked next to an e-Golf you have to wait for the owner to come out and unplug their car.
asimba2 said:jlv said:IMHO, I really love the e-Golf -- especially for how it doesn't look grotesquely like an EV.redLEAF said:so I'm getting a '15 e-Golf
But, the first few years of e-Golf's have a really bad misfeature if you use shared EVSEs -- the car always locks the charge cord, and it can only be unlocked by the owner of the car. Here at work we have about 40 parking spots served by 20 EVSEs. If you end up getting parked next to an e-Golf you have to wait for the owner to come out and unplug their car.
Your message implies they changed this feature. Did they? It was probably my biggest gripe of the e-Golf.
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