1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Honda to Lease And Not Sell the FIT EV

Discussion in 'EV (Electric Vehicle) Discussion' started by Rokeby, Nov 16, 2011.

  1. Rokeby

    Rokeby Member

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2008
    3,033
    708
    75
    Location:
    Ballamer, Merlin
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    What's up with Honda...
    An on-the-early-adopters beta test?

    "Just about every major automaker will sell an all-electric car in the
    next few years. But if you want to know how competitive the company
    wants to be with its EVs, you need to look at one metric: price.

    "Honda today announced a lease price of $399 a month for the Honda
    Fit EV, based on a purchase price of $36,625. That's great news. The
    problem is that the company will not sell the all-electric Fit. It only be
    available as a lease.

    "Honda will begin leasing the Fit EV in California and Oregon in summer
    2012. The company expects volume to be approximately 1,100 units—
    or only about 366 cars a year—for the next three years. This low
    volume, combined with the lease-only approach, sends a message of
    tentativeness. A Honda official said the company wanted to be careful
    and cautious about the Fit EV rollout, explaining that "we don't want to
    experiment on the customer."

    "Putting an electric car up for lease but not giving EV drivers the option
    to buy conjures bad memories of the ill-fated EV1, which was
    confiscated and crushed by General Motors.

    "The news of the lease-only option is more painful considering that
    Honda now says the Fit EV will have a range of 123 miles--up from the
    100 miles it promised last year at the L.A. show. Honda told me that
    the company wanted the 123-mile number to get communicated, as a
    comparison of the range offered by other electric cars, like the Nissan
    LEAF. Curiously, the company also said that the EPA number for range
    that will appear on the window sticker is likely to be 76 miles. The Fit
    EV will use a 20 kWh lithium-ion battery, and will be powered by a
    92-kW electric motor.

    "The Fit EV's onboard 6.6 kW - 32 amp charger means the battery pack
    can be fully charged with 240 volts in ;as little as three hours.' "

    PluginCars.com Nov, 16, 2011
     
    #1 Rokeby, Nov 16, 2011
  2. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2010
    6,035
    3,854
    0
    Location:
    Rocky Mountains
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    With Honda's past firmware issues in regards to battery management and usage, I would be cautious at best in purchasing a pure electric Honda. Leasing is more forgivable because their poor design can only leave you stranded, not out a bunch of money.

    Wise move on their part.
     
    #2 2k1Toaster, Nov 16, 2011
  3. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2004
    15,140
    611
    0
    Location:
    South Puget Sound, WA
    Vehicle:
    2013 Nissan LEAF
    Model:
    Persona
    ok so this is Honda's version of the GM EV1 program?
     
    #3 DaveinOlyWA, Nov 19, 2011
  4. Southern Dad

    Southern Dad Active Member

    Joined:
    Jun 21, 2011
    350
    212
    58
    Location:
    Monroe, GA
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    This is exactly what happened to me with the GM EV1 that I leased for two years and loved. GM adamantly would not sell or renew the lease at the end of the two years. They even came to the house to remove the charger.
     
    #4 Southern Dad, Nov 24, 2011
  5. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2010
    2,641
    264
    0
    Location:
    Western NY
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II
    $36k for a Honda Fit, wow that is a great deal if I ever heard one.
     
    #5 Skoorbmax, Nov 29, 2011
  6. stevemcelroy

    stevemcelroy Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2009
    873
    194
    0
    Location:
    Boulder, CO
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    II
    It makes total sense for Honda to do this - it limits the warranty exposure and allows them to collect the cars at the end of the lease period and to pull them apart and do a postmortem. A few years ago Mini did the same with their electric Mini and I think that BMW (Mini's owner) is going to do it also with an electric version of the 1 series.

    To go back to the warranty - think about it. If they sell these they will be on the hook for the 10 year/100,000 mile (not positive this is the CARB requirement for EV's) warranty. Delivering that service on these cars could be expensive and difficult in the later years, and if they proved unreliable you get the double whammy of being expensive and also a killer in terms of company reputation.

    Honda has also announced that they are only going to produce a couple thousand of these over a few years so it is pretty clear that this is a niche program for now and that they are really looking for Beta testers more than owners (as the op said).

    I know that the whole lease thing with the EV1 was a fiasco but it seems like all of the car makers have learned from it. I would imagine that anyone interested in these will be informed about the plan for what might happen after the lease period.
     
    #6 stevemcelroy, Nov 29, 2011
  7. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2010
    4,297
    2,347
    33
    Location:
    Texas
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    #7 frodoz737, Nov 29, 2011
  8. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2004
    14,487
    2,994
    0
    Location:
    Fort Lee, NJ
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    Actually, 10 years / 150k miles warranty requirement is to achieve AT-PZEV emission certification.

    It only applies for hybrids (including plugins) because the battery is considered part of emission hardware.

    It doesn't apply for EVs since there is no gas engine that could be affected by the performance of the battery.
     
    #8 usbseawolf2000, Nov 29, 2011
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)