jlsoaz
Well-known member
golfcart said:At the end of the day I just look at it this way:
The Leaf e+ is slated to arrive this spring, presumably in April (my educated guess not fact)... it'll cost around $36k (my educated guess not fact) and still have a $7500 tax credit. By that time the Bolt will still cost $38k+ and will only get a $3750 tax credit and the cheapest Tesla M3 will probably still cost $45,000+ with a $3750 tax credit.
Possible negotiations and dealer incentives aside (which I can't predict right now). You just need to ask yourself if "active cooling", CCS, and better resale worth the extra ~$6000 for the Bolt and are active cooling, supercharging, better resale, and better performance worth the extra ~$13000 for a Tesla? Then get the one you think is worth it.
Me personally, I am probably going to wait until fall to see what the e+ discounts look like and see what kind of deals are available on 2018 and 2019 SV's at that point.
So even without liquid battery cooling, and even with less than stellar resale, the e+ may turn out to be the choice and it is not that much of a disappointment as long as the Leaf remains cheaper than the other similar options (I am not in a CARB state). This is because I like the size, looks, feel, and features on the Leaf and I suspect the e+ performance should be as good as you can expect from a FWD vehicle. I am also confident that I could drive the e+ without any range concerns until my kid is old enough to drive at which point I'll get my mid-life crisis sports car and the kid can have the Leaf.
some pretty good reasoning for buying a new vehicle.
Still, please note that my own way I've set up the question for this thread, and in general for myself, is that I'm looking at buying a used longer-range BEV. They are in short supply right now, and have not been in the market long enough to lose enough of their value, so I won't be buying at least for another year or two. I can't buy a used BEV that has ultimately shown itself to have poor characteristics in the area of range degradation, so the question becomes - do I need to cross the Leaf e+ off my list of hopes for buying a few years from now, or might it surprise me? How disappointed should I be that there seem to be signs that Nissan may (it is not clear yet) not have taken seriously enough the questions around thermal management, costs, and impacts on long-term residual value. Still, the e+ appears to have better air cooling than its predecessors, and undoubtedly there have been improvements in other areas. So: in my view, there is a chance it will all work out, though personally I'm not that confident.