New and current Honda Fit EV customers can look forward to a reduction in their lease costs.
The old lease cost of $389/month for 36 months with 12,000 miles allowed annually has now become $259/month for 36 months with unlimited mileage. Also included are scheduled maintenance, collision coverage and a free 240V charger (the unit is free but you have to pay for installation). Customers who already leased a Fit EV will be able to take advantage of the new rates going forward.
The EV market is experiencing a bit of a price war lately, with aggressive deals from Fiat, Nissan and Chevrolet. For commuters in California, this presents an opportunity for a cheap runabout for short distances. TTAC contributor Jeff Jablansky is slated to give us his impressions of what it’s like to live with the Fit EV in the next couple weeks. In the mean time, Alex Dykes has driven a pre-production version, and currently has a Fiat 500e in his garage. The rest of us will have to watch from afar.
With the lease price that high and only 12k per year allowed no wonder they couldn’t move enough to meet the quota. A regular Fit would have been cheaper. At the new price and unlimited mileage it looks like a good deal for someone who can regularly use it’s range or more, thanks to an at work charger. I’m not sure why they did such a restriction on mileage in the first place since these will all go straight to the crusher as soon as the lease is up. Since it is purely a compliance car and Honda will not wish to bother with supporting them long term and neither will the aftermarket as they will only make and sell enough only in CA to meet their quota.
There are several running around the Boston area (Charlestown & Everett). And a few in DC, too (local, not gov’t or muni plates).
Granted, that’s hardly “many” – even for an EV – but they’re not all being leased in CA.
Cheers!
I’m not sure how they are getting there if you go to Honda’s Fit EV assessment site http://automobiles.honda.com/fit-ev/ev-readiness-assessment-long.aspx if you put in a DC area zip it says that they are not available and gives this note.
“The Fit EV is currently not for lease in your area; however, its availability could expand as more charging stations are installed and the EV infrastructure grows. We are definitely interested in expanding the availability of the Fit EV, and your responses to this form will help us with identifying potential EV markets.”
The funny thing is that when I put in my WA state zip it says the same thing and we have a huge charging infrastructure in WA and OR so much so that you can drive a Leaf from Canada/WA border to the OR/CA border utilizing the fast and other chargers along the way. Of course since they didn’t put a CHaDeMo connector on the FIT you’ll be waiting overnight for a recharge.
It does show up as available in Boston which really surprises me since they initially said they would be for lease in CA only. They planed low volume also makes me wonder how they are going to meet their Quota if they let people in Boston buy one.
They lease them in MD, which surrounds DC on three sides.
As much as I enjoy my Leaf, I really think the value of the charging infrastructure is overrated until the recharge rate issue is improved through technology.
In 8 months of ownership, I’ve drawn less than 20 miles’ range from a public charger. There’s just no point in it since the car’s range is a real 40-60 miles in actual use.
Public chargers are somewhat unreliable. An app like PlugShare will tell you where they are, but then you find the charger isn’t a Level 3 (rapid), isn’t there, or is broken.
I think you’re asking for trouble if your trip relies on having a specific charger available so you can make it home.
In another thread here, someone noted that the car most likely to use a public charger is the Volt, which has the ICE. Apparently Volt drivers are trying to minimize their gasoline usage (bragging rights?) by sipping a few electrons at the public trough. Pure EV drivers tend to stick closer to home.
So I think Honda’s blame for limited deployment of the Fit EV on lack of EV charger infrastructure is dubious. It hasn’t stopped other mfrs.
Yes the claim that they aren’t selling them in an area w/o a charger infrastructure is just a red herring, presumably to keep you from buying one of the widely available EVs and in reality they want to minimize it’s popularity and their losses since it is intended as a compliance vehicle.
The fact is that most EVs get all their charging done at home. The fact that the Fit EV can’t use the practical for use Level 3 charger also makes the state of the infrastructure kind of moot too. Of the people I know with Leafs and Volts one of the Leaf drivers has never used a public charger, the other two use the extensive network of free level 3 chargers to take extended road trips like Seattle to Portland on occasion. The Volt driver with it’s limited range does occasionally use public level 2 chargers, uses the charger at his office daily and frequently uses the 110 v convenience cord. So yeah based on people I know the Volt driver is the most likely one to use a charger away from home.
I would certainly give it a look if it was available here.
This really is a screaming bargain. I wonder if the free charger is a free leased charger or a free owned charger. If owned the bargain screams even louder.
Depends on the area. In the Detroit area, DTE(Detroit Edison) will install a 240 line and have Boesch come and install a charger if you own an EV/plug-In.
Will they sell one for %15K?
You can’t get a regular one for that. It is 15,500 if you want a stripped stick version and almost 17k if you want a stripped auto.
$259 a month, but how much $ down?
Nuttin down, unlimited miles, collision insurance included, 240V charger included. They’ve got to be losing money on each lease, but I guess not as much money as it would cost them to buy CARB credits from Tesla if they don’t meet their sales quota.
i suspect at that price they are going to ‘sell out’ here in oregon within a matter of days.
There are a surprising number of leafs (leaves?) and teslas around the portland metro area.
This price cut is probably necessary in comparison to the Ford Focus EV I mentioned the other day. The Focus EV is $39,995 with destination, but the Ford website says they’ll lease you one for $284/mo with $929 down for a 36-month 10.5K mile/year lease. That’s $310/mo in the end.
If I had a car like this, even 10,500 miles/year would effectively be unlimited. That’d be the case for a lot of people who use it as a train station car or only for a shorter commute, but not on weekends or for trips.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2013/05/tesla-wants-to-build-a-leaf-competitor/#comment-2055171
It would be awesome if that also included insurance…
I’m in at that price and unlimited miles. Unfortunately the car is not offered in Texas.
Wait, Honda makes a Fit EV?
Shhh, they don’t want anyone to know about it since they loose money on each one and are only going to produce 1100 of this batch, though they apparently aren’t selling quick enough hence the drop in the cost of the lease.
If they sold these in the Louisville area I would be inclined to give it a look. 259 and them footing the collision insurance is getting very close to making it worthwhile to park the gas guzzler. I would be close to breaking even at least.
Unfortunately, Louisville is severely lacking in public EV chargers. There’s only one location at a Univ of Louisville parking garage. Granted, pure EV owners have a reputation of being very careful due to RA and not rely on public chargers, but they’re still very nice to have around and a real pity because Louisville has more ‘EV friendly’ weather than many other cities.
Agreed. I do wish they’d make it available to us though as it would work for my intended use just plugging it in at night back at the house.
Looking forward to Alex Dykes’ review of the Fiat 500E. Every one I’ve read so far says it’s great, despite Marchionne griping about the cost to design and manufacture them (still less than California’s fines for not making them available).
I’m much more interested in the new Honda Accord hybrid, not the plug-in (useless idea long term). Seems to be the first really new idea in this arena since the Prius. Dealers round here know nothing, naturally, as to when it might be available.
is the Fit EV available anywhere in Fl? what’s the range on the car? I can’t seem to find that on Honda’s website.
wow, that’s less than I pay just for insurance on my car in Toronto area! Not including gas and running costs!