Has any private owner successfully sold a battery lease EV?
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Yes I agree, but the earliest experiences of this may be the most interesting and could help direct future owners one way or the other
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Yes. Look on the Twizzy forum. Has been problematic.
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Yes, I was aware of those but wondered if that was just a Twizzy thing. I even considered one as a stepping stone to a Leaf but was put off by the inflexibility of renting more than anything else.
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I rented my Berlingo Electrique batteries in 2002. Only way of doing it then. After they replaced one of the modules at 70000 (failed) they offered to let me own the batteries and not lease. Got to 96000 when the new module they had replaced failed. Still on my drive.
Not really answering your question though!
Not really answering your question though!
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We have an Acenta with leased batteries. The plan is to keep it for 4 or 5 years and then trade it in; so the person buying our lease will be a Nissan dealer, hopefully that will work out OK.
The maths I did was that £70 * 60 = £4200 which is less than the £5000 price difference between leasing and buying the battery so it's the best bet. I must admit though that this assumes that the trade in price difference between a leased battery and a bought battery car stays at £5000 so I may not have thought this through properly!
The maths I did was that £70 * 60 = £4200 which is less than the £5000 price difference between leasing and buying the battery so it's the best bet. I must admit though that this assumes that the trade in price difference between a leased battery and a bought battery car stays at £5000 so I may not have thought this through properly!
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When you say they let you own them was there a cost to you or did they realise a potential saving to them?
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I stopped paying the lease. They stopped guaranteeing to replace the batteries.
Bear in mind though that Citroen had stopped making the electric berlingo so it was a legacy issue for them. And they was no mileage limit....so I regularly drove 100 miles in a day in a vehicle with a range od 60 by opportunity charging. And by this point had lost all faith in Citroen, and was looking at putting in Lithium at some point. The Nicads though robust were wet batteries....you had to rig up ionised water dispensers to service them regularly (if not paying citroen prices).
So there was a saving to me from the lease costs and to Citroen from the battery replacement costs
Bear in mind though that Citroen had stopped making the electric berlingo so it was a legacy issue for them. And they was no mileage limit....so I regularly drove 100 miles in a day in a vehicle with a range od 60 by opportunity charging. And by this point had lost all faith in Citroen, and was looking at putting in Lithium at some point. The Nicads though robust were wet batteries....you had to rig up ionised water dispensers to service them regularly (if not paying citroen prices).
So there was a saving to me from the lease costs and to Citroen from the battery replacement costs
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What you tell may go some way to explaining this. During my thorough EV research I went in to Banbury Citroen to ask about the Citroen I Miev clone. They had never heard of it, 3 salesmen apparently with not much to do were all interested to know a bit about it from their interested customer though so gathered round and I gave them a 5 minute entertaining brief. The head salesman took my details and said he would find out more and let me know about the price/delivery etc that was last summer June/July.
At about the same time I also felt obliged to vist Banbury Renault to ask about the Zoe and the same thing happened, no salesman were specialist EV trained but were keen to hear what I already knew. They started off well by saying they were having a charge point installed and had a Kango ZE hidden round the back and which I had a look in. They couldn't offer anyone a test drive as the battery was flat and they had no way to charge it
. I made sure they took my details and asked them to let me know when there was a Zoe to test drive. I have heard absolutely nothing from Banbury Citroen or Renault garages since! Still no EVs out front and still no chargepoint AFAIK. Nissan do have a Leaf sales presence in town but with uncompetetive sales pricing. How many lost EV sales opportunities must there be accross Britain if my experience is common? They are effectively pocketing the 5 grand extra on every sale now too if ever they needed incentives! How effective will they be when that stops?
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I thought long and hard on this lease issue before getting a Zoe as I was also dead set against the principle and though I wanted an EV I didn't want to get mugged - but doing the sums our total monthly outlay is now £190 (£2300 deposit) and that includes servicing and breakdown cover which works out less than our previous MX5 plus no road tax, (minimal) fuel or MOT . But I have assumerd that the car will be worthless after the 3 year lease and we will hand it back as I can't see any second hand market for a 3 year old EV with a £70pcm overhead.
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It is the mileage cap that was the deal breaker for me.
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I can't help feeling that this will be common practice in some form or other.
Really interesting thread.
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I'm about to come up against this in a couple of months. BMW have offered me about £8k for what will be a one year old Zoe (approx 3000 miles or so on it) as a trade-in; I spoke to one Renault dealer who didn't seem interested in buying it, but I'll try a few more.
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Well at least you managed to find a Renault dealer interested in selling it which is more than I did!
Hope all goes well. I am sure there will be interest in your experience so please keep posting it.
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