Leaf=21K, Accent=14K, Commute=11 Miles.
It doesn't make economical sense to pay 7K more for a car who's primary feature is low cost per mile, then hardly put miles on the car. Maybe that's just me.
It doesn't make economical sense to pay 7K more for a car who's primary feature is low cost per mile, then hardly put miles on the car. Maybe that's just me.
I mean, if you look at what's on the road, you'll see a lot of cars that are more expensive than what could do the same job. Some people even pay extra for fancy wheels, sunroofs, bigger engines (which cost more in fuel), cosmetic modifications, etc.
So either we need to judge all vehicles purely on economics, or we should admit that car buyers are looking for other things than purely functional transportation at the lowest cost.
Oh and each model of vehicle has a target demographic, and you may notice the marketing of any given model targets the lifestyle of the buyer. Young, hip and urban? Hard-working man's man? Eco-concious? A car for every lifestyle.
Tesla's selling all the electric cars they're making, certainly not only because the people who buy them are saving money on gas.
Of course! But it's the assumption that is made. It's good to remember to check the assumptions people are making.
For instance, I had a Prius and put 120K miles on it in 5 years. If I recall correctly, compared to a similarly outfitted Camry, I saved thousands in TCO in 5 years.
This is in the economy car class, which means people are usually looking for economy. If it were a sports car, we'd maximize for performance.
Anyway, it's true that it would take me ~20 years to break even with the 2012 Leaf, but I wasn't optimizing for economy. I was optimizing for the environment.
A $1000 Craigslist beater or a $20/month bus pass can probably do that commute.