So I bought an electric car....

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Messages
309
Location
Holland, MI USA
Bought a 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV. 2,600 miles on it. The market on these cars is absolutely nuts. Most of the 2012's were leased, those cars are coming back from lease. The cheap gas prices and limited range of an electric car have pounded the resale. My car had a sticker price of $35k, I bought it for $8200 out the door. I drive 5 miles each way to work, my employer has charging stations to use for free. Figured this is a way to save some money and see how it goes. The battery has a 8 year,100k warranty. I will save around $1k per year in gas at $2.50/gallon, and I think gas is going to go back up. The car will pay for itself in 8 years or so. Work also has a "green" focus, so this gives me some green points too. It will be fun to park this car by the Chevy Volts and Hybrid Ford Fusions that people paid $25k+ for....

This car was sold in March, 2014, so most of the original warranties are in effect. I have bumper to bumper coverage until March, 2017.

Thankfully I have 2 other gas cars yet, my oil stash is around 100 quarts!!
 
Free electricity, wow, sounds like you hit pay dirt.

5 mile commute to work is the perfect application .
 
Jeez, sounds like it was used as a college mail car or something. Just trying to imagine an entity with money to blow on the initial depreciation hit.

Congratulations on getting something rare, and not another prius, not that there's anything wrong with that.
wink.gif
 
Wow. Never thought I'd be endorsing the purchase of an i-MiEV, but this one seems like exactly the right call under the circumstances.

Nice find. Hope it continues to treat you well!

Am I reading correctly that the in-service date is in March 2014? That would mean your battery is covered until 2022!
 
Wow...for that price, I would certainly consider one! We have one household member that commutes 12 miles each way to work every day, but the majority of our driving takes us much farther, so the only electric that would work for us would be the Volt, that has the gasoline engine...but at that price, we could dedicate a car to the daily commute...very interesting...
 
Originally Posted By: Neely97
Mitsubishi, preferred by 9 out of 10 Kamikaze pilots .

Just pokin fun at ya.


Yeah, Mitsubishi made the Zero fighter which was pretty good during the beginning of the war, they participated in the attack at Pearl Harbor.
 
Pre-owned Nissan Leafs are cheap also. If I had a free recharging station at work I would seriously consider getting one.
 
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Score of the year!


+1; congrats. EVs are the right vehicle for the right situation regardless of what detractors say.
 
Great decision in my opinion. I'm looking for a Leaf right now myself, I'm focused on a 2013 with quick charger (QC) so I can run locally or between cities in it too when I want (80% charge in 25 minutes or 25 mile charge in 10 minutes with QC). Will keep my other vehicles too of course for long trips. I'm seeing prices in the $9500 to $10,000 range right now for the Leaf too which is competitive.
 
Pretty interesting. I did some digging, and home depot sells a charger for most of the EV's out there for $548 by schneider electric.

You would just need to pay an electrician to run a 240v 30amp line to it which is not too bad. Battery charges in 6 hours.

If you pay 11 cents per kwh for electric, and drive the thing 15000 miles per year you will pay about $550 per year for electric costs.

My utility offers different off peak rates so currently you could pay 7 cents or 8 cents which would reduce the cost.

With current gasoline prices, I am paying $1200 per year to fuel our Toyota Matrix which gets about 30mpg.

At $25k this car makes zero sense to me, but at $8k for a used one it is starting to get into the realm of making sense for someone who has a standard commute.

The only thing is that I am 6 foot 4 in height, and this would not be a comfortable car for me to drive daily.

Also you can forget taking it anywhere but to and from work.

For someone who has a free charger at work you can charge the device for nothing and you pay $8000 for the vehicle. That is very ideal.
 
I'm in the process of moving, and my new commute will be tripled, to 30 miles one way. Plus, my employer has a free charging station. It's something to seriously consider.

Is the used car eligible for a tax credit?
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
Is the used car eligible for a tax credit?


I don't believe so, only to the original buyer of each eligible car.

Can the Mitsu go on the highway since I'm not sure about the top speed?
 
Is the heater for the inside of the car electric? And if so, how much does using the heater in the winter reduce the driving range of the car?

Also, how does using the AC (including the defroster) reduce the range of the car?
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top