[Flickr Creative Commons Photo By harry_nl]

You can get a new 2018 Nissan LEAF for $14,500 in Colorado

The 2018 Nissan LEAF can be had for as little as $14,500 in Colorado after federal, state and utility incentives are taken into consideration. [Wikimedia Commons Photo]
editor's blog logoA lot of people who don’t know much, if anything, about electric cars and/or “hate” electric cars (read: some ICE-heads) think they are/claim they are ‘too expensive.’

Not true.

Yes, it is true that some electric cars are ‘expensive’. So are many gasoline cars.

There are also of plenty affordable electric cars, for instance the Nissan LEAF and the Chevy Bolt (both of which I have leased across the past four years).

Just how affordable can they be?

Well, that depends a bit on where you live. But there are plenty of states in the United States that are good EV states, including California, Washington, Oregon — and Colorado, where I live.

The state of Colorado offers a $5,000 tax rebate for purchased EVs and $2,500 for a leased EV. Add to that a $7,500 federal tax credit (not everyone has a big enough tax liability to take fully advantage of this) AND a special offer by Xcel Energy here in Colorado of a $3,000 rebate if you buy a 2018 Nissan LEAF, and you are talking about $15,500 off the sticker price of a fully electric car.

Prior to tax credits, rebates and utility rebates, the lowest sticker price for a 2018 LEAF = about $30,000.

Xcel Energy of Colorado is offering a $3,000 rebate on new 2018 Nissan LEAFs until the end of June.

So, let’s do some math here –>

$30,000 – $15,500 = $14,500

Yes, that IS correct: $14,500 for a BRAND NEW 2018 LEAF with 150 miles of range.

That’s not only less than $20,000 for a BRAND NEW car, it’s under $15,000!

That is an ABSURDLY low price.

And this for a car which costs only about $30-$40 to fuel per month (assuming 1,000 miles/month), as compared to the easily $120+ per month to fuel a gasoline car here in Colorado.

And. Yet. People. Still. Don’t. Get. It.

“Electric cars are too expensive” they keeping saying to me here in Colorado, where a damn good, brand NEW EV can be had for less than $15,000.

What they really mean is –>

“I am stuck in my ways and I’m NOT willing to try something new. I’d rather spend thousands of dollars on gasoline and stick with the status quo because, frankly, I’m just too much of a creature of habit to take ‘the risk’ on an electric car.”

What risk, I say!?

Yes, if the LEAF will be your ONLY car, it could be a “risk”, depending on how far you want to be able to drive inĀ  your car without having to recharge.



However, more than half of American households are TWO-CAR households. Buying, or leasing, a 100 percent electric car for a STEAL — $14,500!!! — is hardly a “risk” for these folks: You’ve got the gasoline car for the one (or fewer) long road trips you take per year.

So, what’s the excuse now?

I’m not buying, “EVs are too expensive”. $14,500 for a brand new electric car is NOT ‘too expensive.’

What I am hearing you actually say is, “I refuse to change my ways.”

Yes, this is really what is being said by many, many people in states like Colorado, with LOTS of EV incentives and truly cheap, brand new electric cars. This includes plenty of ‘bleeding heart liberal, greenies’ who claim to be for a cleaner environment and yet continue to insist on sticking with a gas car.

Sigh…

Deeply ingrained human inertia is a damn tough thing to push against — isn’t it?