Early Retirement Extreme Forums

So I've been researching electric car lately and found an interesting new deal going on now.

It's the 2017 Mitsubishi i-miev full electric car.
It's a pretty rare car with only 1,800 sales in the USA since 2014.

MSRP: 22,995
Manufacturer rebate: (-) 6,000
Federal Subsidy: (-) 7,500
State Subsidy: (-) 2,000
Dealer Fees: (+) 300
Local Gov Fees: (+) 500
___________________________
Total: $8,300

Couple drawbacks are subsidies are income tax credits, so if your income tax is lower than 7,500 you don't get the full amount, only the amount you owe. Battery is warrantied for 8 year / 100,000 miles & general warranty is 3 years / 30,000 miles.

Range is low at 62 miles, but it's designed for city commuters. Safety is decent with an overall 4 star rating, and the design is very uncommon.

Overall I see a bright future for electric cars & being compatible with ERE values.

Can you carry over the tax credit?

That car has way too little range for me. I'd like a bit over a hundred, and if I can recharge somewhere it would just be a bonus.

I think it would be fun to convert a car to electric, but by the time you get the batteries and everything, you'll have generally spent as much as if you just bought a Leaf. So I'll probably just do my lawn tractor; lead acid batteries are great on tractors.

Where are you seeing a $6K rebate? I haven't seen that advertised.

enigmaT120 wrote:Can you carry over the tax credit?

Nope, the geniuses that wrote the law back in 2008 figured only rich people could afford electric cars. Credit doesn't roll over

jennypenny wrote:Where are you seeing a $6K rebate? I haven't seen that advertised.

It's not. It's a manufacturers incentive to all the dealerships. Most dealerships are not advertising it and pocketing the cash, but my local dealer is decently honest and is willing to pass most of the incentive off to me because he wants to sell more electric cars to meet his regional EV quota. Found out about the incentive via truecar!

What is the subsidy called?

sky wrote:What is the subsidy called?

Federal Subsidy: Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 Read more here

State Subsidy: South Carolina Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle Tax Credit Read more here

Manufacturer Subsidy: Summer Sale for 2017 Read more here

I don't know, you can get a used Nissan Leaf for that same "bottom line" price and it's a real car, whereas it looks like people online are referring to the I-MIEV as a "glorified golf cart"

http://www.consumerreports.org/video/vi ... road-test/

I believe the me-i is based on the Mirage. We test drove one last summer (mirage), and if your idea of an econobox is a Maxima or civic, then I can see this seeming like a go-cart. It reminded me of 70's-80's b210s or Tercel. A real bare bones econobox.

I might have talked my wife into a me-i at that price. We went with a salvaged Prius c, a luxury car by comparison. So we still have to pay for gas on occasion...