Nissan’s electric car … the Leaf … has now made it’s appearance on the world stage. It’s been on display at several motorshows and it’s even been on display by the beach in Los Angeles despite the fact that it’s not going to be available till late next year.
By then I’m sure Nissan will have made up it’s mind but at the moment Nissan can’t decide if it will sell the car complete with a battery … lease the car and battery as a complete package … or maybe just sell the car without a battery and hit the buyers for extra dollars by way of a monthly lease payment on the battery.
That last option is an interesting concept … you pay for the car and then you pay every month for the battery too. From what Nissan’s senior vice president of sales and marketing in the United States seems to be suggesting it looks as though Nissan is thinking that buyers of the Leaf will think of lease payments on the battery as the money they would spend to put fuel in the tank of a more conventional car.
Will that idea be accepted in the market place … especially when you consider that Leaf buyer’s are going to be paying for the electricity that goes into the battery? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see for the answer to that question … so much about electric cars is new and possibly challenging for new car buyers that the idea of leasing the battery just might work.