On 3/15/2014 4:39 PM, nicklogan wrote:
Thanks for the tip, Rick. I was able to get a 3 year lease on a 2013 Smart ED
for $99/mo plus tax today. I got the last one available in Connecticut
through a Mecedes Benz dealer. By opting into their Battery Assurance Plan
most of the payment is actually going toward leasing the battery (only
$20/mo toward the "glider"). Since I don't plan on buying it at the end of
the lease, I don't care if that means my buyout price would be higher. I pay
almost as much a month in gas to commute as the payment so it's a cheap way
into a new EV. At the end of lease I'll look for a new EV to buy and will
likely have more choices at a lower price.
Congratulations! Hartford or Fairfield?
I couldn't resist the price either. I have a Ford C-Max Energi plug-in
hybrid and all summer it does my entire commute on battery power. But
this winter it only goes 11 miles on electric AND insists on running the
engine to warm things up. So even though I'm not using a lot of gas it
annoys me to use any. Problem solved.
Really, I think it means I just became part of Daimlers battery research
program - they get to keep the $7500 federal credit while I pay to rent
their battery while they test the battery. The last generation of Smarts had
the battery made by Tesla, this one was made by a Daimler sudsidiary. The
car almost gets thrown in for free. I always considered a lease a sucker's
game and have never even bought a new car, but this was too good to pass up.
Maybe a new Leaf the next time. Now I can take my lead sled pickup off the
road to upgrade to lithium batteries and take my time about it.
There's so many ways to do batteries wrong that I don't mind paying the
battery rental price. There's the minor annoyance of sending out two
checks every month but I don't think the payment would be substantially
different if I hadn't opted for it.
Interestingly I too have a lead sled pickup which has been off the road
all Winter getting a lithium upgrade. I've been doing what I can in the
basement but it's been too darn cold to work on the actual truck very much.
--Rick
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