RIP Chevy

Since I am on pace to go well over 20,000 miles this year on my LEAF, one might think that I would do anything for a longer range EV and I would do a lot and that is true!

Now don't get me wrong, the Bolt has the range. I had strongly considered it. After all, I spent premium money on my 2011 LEAF SL so it would not have been the first time I was swayed by EVvana and if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing but today is different. We are farther down the EV road where as my 2011 had to clear a path.  There are options, considerations to weigh and one thing is really quite an easy decision.  Compromising my core values was not an option.

But options are soon to be had. I have a gasser; a Corolla.  Its old, beat up,  but runs reliably well.  Its not worth much but I need to replace it. I hardly ever drive it and even with minimal insurance and super cheap tabs, its still costing me over $600 a year which brings its TCO cost to over 30 cents per mile.  I do have a co-worker, a single mother who doesn't make any money (I know this because she works at the same company I do!) who had her car stolen out of the parking lot of K-mart while working 5-6 years ago. She will never get enough money together to get another one, no matter how cheap so I was simply going to give the Corolla to her.  Her not having a car also affects how much money she can make because she isn't scheduled to work unless there is a co-worker near by working the same job.  That option is limited to two people and I am one of them.  But we only work together on pharmacy jobs which is a lot of what I do but not that much.

Either way, I need another car. A longer range car and I don't want to go EREV or hybrid or whatever the PC term is these days. I want an EV that can fill the gaps.  I am a few days short of 6 months into my 2016 LEAF lease but I don't have 2½ years to make a decision. I have 45,000 plus a bonus (thanks Ray!) miles before I pay the penalties and I can't keep driving the LEAF as my primary car at the rate I am going.  Roughly speaking I have until mid 2018 to switch the LEAF to "around town" car.

But looking at the Bolt, I am still not finding the deals.  They are not passing all of the $7500 tax credit along unlike nearly EVERYONE else.

I ran the Bolt lease calculator for May and true to form, it went down again, so I attempted to email several dealers for details and got error messages on the website stating I was missing information. Even after filling out several fields with "NA" I was still unable to send one quote request. I guess this is a way to force me into the dealership...

This was for an LT with heated seats, floor mats and QC.  Weighted price is $483 a month. Don't know the rent fee (interest) or Money Factor (interest rate) or the residual (purchase price at the end of the lease) , all of which would be needed to determine the total cost.  Now, well qualified buyers were getting 4.9% interest on purchases so guessing lease terms will not be all that great for Chevy, or at least not the .07% term I got on my current LEAF.

But if thumbnailing costs,  my total payout on the lease term would be  $17,393.  We take $1500 (on the high end) for random fees, etc., the residual would be about  ($39K - $17 K - $7.5 K or in the $14.5 K range, maybe $15.5K at the most.... But I am thinking its likely to be closer to $22K which means Chevy will be pocketing the Federal Government's gift to me!

This is something I cannot accept in even the smallest of terms.  Even if Chevy cut the price to $20,000, if they kept a penny of the federal credit on a lease, they are nothing more than shysters in my eyes.  They are dead to me.

My Conclusion;  "Chevy who?"