Not really.
Looking hard at EVs to upgarde my ICE. Few observations (that are well known, especially to this audience) that lead me to believe Tesla is the only realistic/mature option out there.
- No EVs are actually available to try (test drive) and get in a month or two
- Even if they are, dealing with dealerships just got more obnoxious with the $$$$ markups
Leaf has been out since Dec 2010 (
First 2011 Nissan Leaf Delivery, To Northern Californian Buyer). However, the batteries from Leafs built before 4/2013 were terrible from a degradation POV. I had two Leafs (leased '13 and a 5/2013 built '13 that I bought used and had until middle of 2021).
The "lizard" packs on model year '15 and '16 S were the best 24 kWh packs and were fairly good. 30 kWh packs weren't so good. The 40 kWh packs (on '18+ non-Plus) seem to be holding up well. Ditto for 62 kWh ones on Leaf Plus but those have only been out in the US since Spring 2019.
If you try ordering the cheapest 3 from
Design Your Model 3 | Tesla, The ETA is Oct 2022. I guess it's "easy" but the wait is very long unless you are willing to pony up for more expensive versions/options.
I went for a test drive of a Niro EV either in Dec 2021 or Nov 2021 and mentioned it at
Are there 2022 leafs for sale in the US? - My Nissan Leaf Forum. There were a few at the dealer.
The markup situation is ridiculous.
New Kia Niro EV Novato CA is openly marking up Niro EVs by $5K over MSRP. I've seen markups on Kona EVs too of at least $2K. Near the bottom of
Car Sales Madness Continues: Dealer Markups Highest for Cadillacs, Land Rovers, Kias | Edmunds is a table of markups.
I got my '19 Bolt bought back by GM (returned on 1/28/22) after 3 years of ownership related to the battery recall (long story) and got a really good check. Guy at my work had used an auto broker to lease a Niro EV and pointed me to
Topics tagged kia. The broker he used (
California Kia Specials ~ LEGENDS AUTO GROUP ~ California's Premier Auto Brokers) had no Niro EV EX (base trim, what I wanted). I did ping him a bunch to see if the situation got better. I even asked about Kona EV and he wasn't able to get any. The Kona EV inventory situation seems quite dynamic.
I ended using
Kia Lease Pricing CA~ The Original Kia Thread © ~ Niro Ev EX 2k DAS 315+tax ~ ALL EV6 IN-STOCK @MSRP and also tried
Cartelligent | Online New Car Sales and Leasing in California - Cartelligent who someone else recommended. The latter could get me a car and would have for me to pick up from Menlo Park. Car would be shipped from So Cal. If I started on a process with them, it'd have probably taken a week or so. They batch up their car shipments onto a carrier to cut down on costs. But their total cost of lease including his fee was a lot more (diff of over $1500 vs. EZ Auto Group (Sam)).
Since EZ Auto Group/Sam wants people to text or call, my 1st ping to him was a text on 1/16/21. I wasn't quite ready yet as I hadn't set a surrender date for my Bolt yet.
I went back and forth w/Sam via iMessage for awhile and maybe had 1 phone call. He required I submit a credit application to reserve a car, which I did on 1/21/22. I planned for a 1/29/22 pickup and since they don't ship, I flew down to So Cal on 1/29 to sign and drive the car back up 450 miles. The pickup went fine and the numbers on the lease documents matched what he quoted me. My biggest fear was some sort of bait and switch and thus having to fly back empty handed or paying a whole bunch extra.
The funny part is that I met rhuber (
CCS Adapter for North America) at an Electrify America station in So Cal that was my 1st charging stop on the drive back up.
I'd say that if you were serious about trying to lease or buy using one of those auto brokers (e.g. EZ Auto Group or
Cartelligent | Online New Car Sales and Leasing in California - Cartelligent), you could get one as long pretty quickly as there was inventory or incoming cars, possibly even within a day, esp. if you're in So Cal, dealing w/a So Cal broker.
I only wanted a Niro EV EX, didn't care if it had the cold weather package, had two top color choices, the rest of the colors being ok except black. So, I wasn't that picky. I was looking at total cost of lease for a given set of terms and vehicle.
The 3rd broker that dealt w/Kias over at Leasehackr was Omega w/a fancy calculator page and all. They were expensive. There were no active CA brokers that dealt w/Leafs at all at the time.
I had pinged a few dealers about leasing or buying new Leafs and often, they'd have some incoming inventory and you had to put a deposit down to snag one. They were usually spoken for pretty quick, sometimes within a day or two.
