The Nissan Leaf will cost between £24,000 and £25,000 when it goes on-sale in the UK next year, according to an industry source.
This price includes the car's battery pack, which was expected to be available to lease only, and the government's £5000 incentive towards the cost of purchasing an electric car.
The car had been tipped to cost the same as a top-spec Toyota Prius, but it will come in around £2000 higher than the £22,609 Prius T Spirit. Final pricing and specification details will be announced within the next three weeks, although it is not clear whether there will be a cheaper Leaf available without a battery pack that can then be leased.
Demand is expected to outstrip supply for the initial batch of Leafs that will be built in Japan; the company has already had mote than 10,000 customers pay a small deposit as an expression of interest and a similar scheme will be launched in Europe this summer.
Each battery pack is said to have a life of between five and 10 years. Nissan will improve the technology all the time and as more Leafs are produced, the cost will come down. Nissan will break even on the Leaf in the first year and the car has been built to "make money", according to our source.
Production of the Leaf will commence at Sunderland in February 2013 and the plant will build 50,000 units per year on the same production line as the Note and Juke.
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Of course this is not a
Re: Nissan Leaf 'from £24,000'
Oxford Dictionary:
Brummie (also Brummy) Brit. informal
• noun a person from Birmingham.
• adjective 1 Brit. relating to Birmingham. 2 (brummy) Austral./NZ counterfeit, showy, or cheaply made.
you know, i think i prefer the antipodean definition (^:
Re: Nissan Leaf 'from £24,000'
Beachy, please, stop putting such huge gaps at the end of your posts! =)
Now, let's actually address the points you've made.
Obviously, the cost of hydrogen matters, but the environmental impact of hydrogen production also matters. That's like saying all that matters for an EV is the cost of the electricity with which you charge the battery, and to hell with all the coal that's being burned to produce the electricity. Nonsense. Whether or not you believe in climate change, or the relationship between it and CO2 emissions (I do believe in climate change, but I'm not 100% convinced of the CO2 link), no-one can deny that minimising the burning of coal and minimising our energy usage is a good thing. Clean air is good for everyone.
Yeah, but, if hydrogen cars achieve mainstream popularity, then how long d'you think BP are going to keep giving hydrogen away? Right now, they're only doing it because the Government gives them tax breaks for doing so, trying to encourage people to get into hydrogen cars. It's in Shell's long-term interest to do so, as they can start selling it at a profit sooner if people get into hydrogen cars, and it's in the Government's interest as well, as they can start taxing hydrogen too.
Tailpipe emissions and fuel duty aren't all that matters. There are other important considerations.