About a year ago I purchased a 2011 Nissan Leaf for what I thought was a steal — at $2000, it was the cheapest Leaf on the market. Now, only a short amount of time has past, and that Leaf appears to be worth less than used chewing gum. I cannot for the life of me sell it, and while part of me understands why, another part of me doesn’t get it at all.
When I bought my Nissan Leaf in September of last year, I knew it was dealing with a steaming pile whose battery had severely degraded over just 60,000 miles. In fact, the conclusion of my introductory article — in which I describe struggling to limp the car 20 miles home after my purchase — includes the following: “For the majority of people, though, the Nissan Leaf is a paperweight, largely useless.”
So it’s not like I’m surprised that it’s not for everyone, but at the same time, I kind of am. You see, a year ago, Leafs were selling for $2500 and up — even ones with bad batteries. I managed to snag mine for just $2000 due to the dent on the driver’s side front fender. You’d think that, if the market rate for such a Leaf was $2000 a year ago, I should be able to get close to that now.
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But no. I have my Nissan Leaf listed on Facebook Marketplace for $1800, and nobody has even offered me something similar. And again, you may be thinking: “Well, I mean, the thing only drives about 35 miles in town and 15 on the highway,” but consider this: This Leaf, after rebates, is almost free.
Seriously, if you qualify for the IRA used vehicle rebate, you get 30 percent off. So that’d make the car only $1260+fees, so about $1500. If you have a power company like Southern California Edison, they’ll give you another $1000 (or more) off, so that’s $800 for this machine if you don’t qualify for the IRA rebate and just $500 if you do! That little money for a beautifully driving, air conditioned machine!
Yes, the Leaf’s utility is limited. I get that. Like I said, you can only drive about 35 miles in town, and only about 15 on the highway at 60 mph. But you know what else has similar range? Golf carts. Look at this $10,722 Club Car Onward 4-passenger lacking air conditioning, lacking doors, lacking trunk space, lacking any crashworthiness, lacking standard bluetooth connectivity, and on and on. The thing uses Trojan T-875 lead-acid batteries and goes only 19 mph, with a range of probably only about 20 miles! And it’s nearly $11 grand!
Then look at the Club Car CRU Electric; it costs $24,995, and its max speed is just 25 mph, with regular 12-volt AGM car batteries offering a range of “15-20 miles” according to the manufacturer:
So people are dropping between $10,000 and $25,000 on little golf carts that are slower, smaller, less well-equipped, less safe, and offer much less range, but my Nissan Leaf isn’t even worth $500/$800/$1800? I don’t get it!
If I owned a resort I’d buy every dang one of these Leafs for $2000, paint each a fun color ,remove the doors, and save bundles on transportation costs.
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As for me, I’ll just be patient. The right buyer will come along, and if I have to offload it for a song, that’s OK. The Nissan Leaf served its purpose of getting me on Fox News and giving thousands of anti-EV extremists something to rally against. I’m obviously kidding; my goal was to do an EV conversion on my WWII Jeep, and I’ve realized that that’s just not going to happen anytime soon, and this Leaf is taking up valuable space in the Galpin parking lot.
I can find another one later. Apparently for just a wad of used gum.
I assume you can’t actually use a Leaf (or any actual, full size/street legal EV) to motor from one hole to the next on a golf course, which is probably a shame. 😉
These things are still very useful as house batteries.
In a few years when the Tesla 3s are selling like this, I’m all over it. Lots more fun to drive than the Leaf.
Unless you’re talking about one that’s been in an accident and isn’t cost-effective to repair, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for used Model 3s to change hands for $2K, let alone less.
MAYBE in a decade, but if they’re still running and have at least half of their original range, I’d be surprised if they get near (let alone under) ten grand. For that to happen, new EVs would have to be retailing for a low-enough figure to force used EV prices down that far.
Part it out and sell the parts one at a time on Craigslist and FB Marketplace for $10-$50 per transaction. You’ll love it.
That sounds horrible.