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Affordable Economics
Like so many eco-freaks, I want a Tesla, super cool and revolutionary. But the Model S is expensive, the Model X is too, and the Model 3 is badly back-ordered. These are not just cool cars, but they’re status symbols… quality signs of success. And at their prices, they are not going to save the world.
bolt interior
The Bolt, on the other hand, is relatively cheap. You can get the basic model for $38,000. I wanted the premium package – including Level 3 charging capability – which cost ~$43,000. I chose to lease it for three years and the lease fee includes all maintenance throughout the lease term.
Generally I like to buy cars, but where emerging technologies are involved, just like the advanced energy storage systems that EcoMotion now specs out, I recommend leases. While not as attractive in terms of life-cycle economics, there will be advances in this technology no doubt. This is the Bolt’s first year of production. I loathe to be saddled long-term with technologies that new.
My goal was to put down $5,000 and to pay a $200 monthly lease fee. To beat that, I put down $6,500 and signed a contract for a monthly lease fee of $200. Then things get more appealing. Turns out that I will get a $2,500 rebate from State of California, Chevy also has a co-marketing deal with Costco. As a Costco member I get a $600 Costco gift card. So at the end of the day, my net down payment was only $3,400. And given my surplus solar power, my fuel will be effectively free for three years. My normal use of fuel, for a 50 PMG Prius is 12,000 miles/50 miles per gallon = 600 gallons. At $3.00 per gallon, that’s an annual fuel savings of $1,800; a three year savings of $5,400. Hmm, getting into negative net marginal cost territory!
And the news does get better: Chevy sells Level 2 chargers at a discounted cost of $600. My local utility, Glendale Water and Power, offers a $500 rebate, leaving me with a net cost $100 for the actual charger. Then I do have to pay an electrician $200 – 300 to install the charger. But I am still well below my $5,000 threshold.
It’s hard to imagine that Chevy is making money on my lease. How much will my Bolt’s residual be at the end of my lease term? Yes, the lessor gets the full $10,000 tax credit for the Bolt. An unnamed source told Bloomberg News that GM is purposefully taking an $8,000 – 9,000 loss on each Bolt sold… a strategic loss leader to establish dominant market share moving forward. The Bolt is the affordable EV with the good range – perhaps one of the best dollar per mile range values!
And by the way, the Bolt gets 119 miles per gallon equivalent. This is based on the number of miles an EV can travel using the same energy content as gasoline. The MPGe metric was introduced in 2010 by the EPA. EPA used an established industry energy standard of 115,000 BTUs per gallon of gasoline, and the 3,412 BTU per kWh benchmark heat rate, to develop and publish the equivalent ratings.