Leasing Batt or buying with an EV?

[madmadscientist]

Hello All,
I just spent an enjoyable amount of time on this great website for EV's- http://www.dannyscontentment.net/ somehow this guy gets to test drive all the EV's!

I watched his video blogs about the Think City EV and I got to wondering about their leasing the battery idea versus buying the batt with the car. Makes some sense to me as it would seem the battery is going to cost over $20,000. If the car costs $18,000 and you have to pay a $100/month lease fee for the battery do y'all think thats a good idea? Or should I say a good deal?

I actually emailed Danny about the Think and he says its roll-out in the UK was supposed to be basically now but its been pushed back till April 09...this doesnt look good for it coming to the states anytime soon...bummer.

I wonder why its release date has been pushed back? Any thoughts?

Daniel Neumansky
Alameda CA

 

[Link]

Seems kinda silly to me. I mean, you've gotta pay for the car, anyway. :?

 

[dogman dan]

It would be amusing if you missed a few payments and they repoed the battery and left you the car.

Actually battery leasing is a great idea, especially if the deal included an annual or so trade out of the pack, so they could remove dead cells etc. Of course this service would cost more than buying a battery.

 

[madmadscientist]

Just got an email from Danny and he says he talked to the Think rep for the UK and that they've pushed back the release date for the car until April 09!!?!?!? The rep said the company is going thru a major restructuring....could that be a good thing?

That can't be good news for us getting the car in the states anytime soon?

Well I personally think leasing the batt is a good idea because I'd imagine that Think would have to deal with any issues with the batt and them maybe in a couple of years you can upgrade to what ever the newest battery is?

Daniel Neumansky
Alameda CA

 

[pwbset]

That can't be good news for us getting the car in the states anytime soon?

Yeah, that sucks. US is pretty delusional to think that BigOil and BigAuto will let a "green" EV automaker into the US without a huge fight. It's likely to remain bit players for the foreseeable future... like Phoenix, Tesla etc. etc. Too bad, but it's been that way throughout history... "hold that tiger, hold that tiger".

 

[madmadscientist]

That can't be good news for us getting the car in the states anytime soon?

Yeah, that sucks. US is pretty delusional to think that BigOil and BigAuto will let a "green" EV automaker into the US without a huge fight. It's likely to remain bit players for the foreseeable future... like Phoenix, Tesla etc. etc. Too bad, but it's been that way throughout history... "hold that tiger, hold that tiger".

Well the Tesla is a 'real' car but I've never really gotten that feel about Phoenix....they always struck me as a bit vaporwarey if you know what I mean....

Daniel Neumansky
Alameda CA

 

[dogman dan]

At least Tucker found a niche he could get without so much battle. He made the best snowtrack vehicles for decades. The one at Ski Apache was a dodge power wagon with tracks where wheels would go. Later he made ones that were more his own design that kicked ass. Hold that tiger!