peralex1 said:
I looked at those used LEAFs. Around 13k for not a bad vehicle. I think it make a lot of sense if you drive a lot. Otherwise with a current deal for lease at $299 a month plus 2400 down is hard to compare to a used car. What really surprised me was residual value of these cars - it seems that they do not hold their value as good as ICE cars. Drop from around 30k to 13 in 2 years? I am not buying. May be leasing with all the government incentives.
There is a simple and straight forward reason for the quick drop in value after just two years.
Keep in mind the equivalent ICE LEAF is the $14,000 Versa, Nissan's low-end car:
http://www.nissanusa.com/buildyournissan/modelLine/build/2015/VER?next=see_all_vehicles.grid.build.image
If the LEAF was a 4 cylinder ICE car its base price new would be $14,000.
All the extra cost is because of the battery.
These EVs drop in value super quick because everyone is afraid the battery will be pretty much useless after 5 to 7 years. My first LEAF lost one bar (out of 12) after 2.5 years. It would not surprise me if it lost one bar every 18 months going forward. (Assuming the range of the LEAF is 78 miles, each bar is good for approximately 6.5 miles of range)
Also keep in mind most people leased the LEAF so we now see a huge volume of LEAFs rolling off lease from 2/3 years ago, flooding the market.
I suspect I will be able to sell the used LEAF I bought (described above), two years from now for about $8,000 to $9,000? Also, two to four years from now there might be after-market batteries available at a reasonable price. I don't know for sure, but I think things will work out because the used LEAF is already so cheap.