Honda Fit EV Lease Price To Fall To $259, Miles Cap Removed

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Honda Fit EV Lease Price To Fall To $259, Miles Cap Removed

Antony Ingram

25 5,706 views May 30, 2013

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2013 Honda Fit EV drive event, Pasadena, CA, June 2012

With lease prices for various electric cars creeping ever downwards, it was only a matter of time until Honda followed suit with its Fit EV.

Originally priced at $389 per month, a letter given to us by an electric car owner revealed the lease price would drop to $259/month--now confirmed by Honda in a press release.

That's not only good news for potential Fit EV lessees, but existing ones too, as Honda is dropping the price all-round from June.

The new three-year lease term requires no down-payment, and also removes the mileage cap of the old lease, meaning electric Fit drivers can travel as much as they wish without fear of extra charges.

It also includes routine maintenance and collision coverage--as well as a Leviton 240V home charging station. It doesn't include installation of said station, but that'll be a small price to pay for the convenience of plugging in to a suitable charger.

2013 Honda Fit EV: First Drive Video

In comparison, lease terms for the Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus Electric, Fiat 500e and Chevrolet Spark EV all have mileage caps and none include collision coverage.

The new package should make the Fit EV one of the cheapest electric vehicles in the U.S. to run--and it's already one of the most efficient, with a 118 MPGe combined rating from the EPA. Official range is 82 miles.

While the Honda Fit EV was initially considered a 'compliance car'--i.e. a vehicle sold only in California to meet the state's electric car quota--Honda has expanded sales to several other states, including those on the East Coast.

The network of qualified Fit EV Honda dealers in California, Oregon, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island and Connecticut will expand from 36 to more than 200 by the end of June.

Does the new, lower lease cost and improved lease package move the Fit EV further up your electric car list? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

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HI-RES GALLERY: 2013 Honda Fit EV drive event, Pasadena, CA, June 2012

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Comments (25)

thchan Posted: 5/30/2013 8:33am PDT

Nice. If I can consistently get an available charger at work (they are always in use and I live 45 miles away), I would jump on this even though I already have a Prius and a Volt. ;-)

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leptoquark Posted: 5/30/2013 10:46am PDT

Have you considered Level 1 (120V wall-plug) charging? Many people have 120V outlets in their garages, or available in the corners of their parking lots, and have never noticed them. I don't know about the Fit, but the Leaf adds 5 miles per hour of L1 charging, so you could add on 40 miles in 8 hours.

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fb_1559222512 Posted: 5/30/2013 11:37am PDT

That is the problem with widespread of BEVs.

Some Leaf drivers are known to "hoard" work place free chargers. They live within 20 miles of work and don't ever charge at home but hoarding the free work charger for the entire day.

More and more BEV cars are like that.

It is an oxymoron. We want to encourage more BEV usage by offering free charging, but some BEV drivers hoard them so other potential buyers worry about it so they end up getting PHEV/EREVs instead of BEV that in turn reduces BEV adoption...

I think we should get rid of all free public chargers...

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John Posted: 5/30/2013 5:20pm PDT

Are you suggesting that BEV owners should not use the chargers (unless necessary) or just that they should not park there all day long when charge only takes an hour?

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fb_1559222512 Posted: 5/30/2013 10:04pm PDT

Both. Take what you "need". Some people learn to use the "free" chargers as their "personal" chargers. They don't ever use their own electricty at home. They use the free work chargers as the "only" mean of charging.

That is NOT isolated to Leaf drivers. Some Tesla drivers are doing that too. Why wouldn't they? It is free!

So, other potential buyers worry that the limited free charging won't be able to keep up with the number of BEVs availabe. So, if they don't get a charge and they might NOT be able to make it home with the current limited range. That, in turn is limiting the potential sales of BEVs.

That is why we should get rid of ALL FREE PUBLIC Charging stations. Instead, charge at leas the average residential rate.

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Pat Posted: 5/31/2013 9:16am PDT

You could have a free charger but charge by the hour for parking in the slot. If that encourages people to only park there if they need to charge, it would do a lot to keep it rotated.

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drkennethnoisewater Posted: 5/31/2013 2:08pm PDT

As an aside, IMO I'd like to see more 120V charger-equipped spaces along with the 240V, for folks like me who park all day and would be just fine with an 8-10 hour charge. That is, if you have a 200A power budget, better to have 2x30A and 8x15A charger-equipped spaces than 6 30A spaces..

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David Posted: 5/30/2013 9:18am PDT

HOLY CRAP!!! that is aweso... oh wait... I live in WA, not an option. move on

now my blog makes MUCH more sense

http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2013/04/compliance-cars-wa-need-them-too.html

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Brian_Henderson Posted: 5/30/2013 11:52am PDT

More EV options are good… Compliance cars, in general not so good. Auto manufactures who are not seeing the economic & sustainability are building (compliance) EVs for the wrong reason.

It's a slap in the face when the same "compliance" auto manufactures are adding solar to their plants & touting green efficiencies in their manufacturing processes.

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youngDon Posted: 5/30/2013 9:53am PDT

Will make a great Stablemate for my future i3. Love the price, love the unlimited mileage, love Honda's reputation. From lawnmowers to motorscooters to generators I never had a Honda I didn't like.

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John Posted: 6/2/2013 5:11am PDT

@Don: Well, great stablemate for 3 years, anyhow. Unlike the upcoming BMW i3, you can't buy the Fit EV. You can only lease it. Honda will take them all back after 3 years.

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PWMartin Posted: 5/30/2013 9:56am PDT

I just bought a 2013 Honda Civic (nonhybrid) to replace my aging 2001 Honda Insight. The new civic is getting 30 mpg which is about half what my Insight gets but there wasn't an affordable electric car that I wanted to buy at the moment. My plan is to drive the Civic for four years and then see what's available in the "E" market. If this Honda Fit EV with a $259 a month lease was available in Washington, I probably would not have bought the Civic.

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vdiv Posted: 5/30/2013 10:11am PDT

The elephant in the room:

What will Honda do with the Fit EVs when the closed-end leases end?

People considering to lease a Fit EV should really think about that, and maybe watch "Who Killed the Electric Car?" if they haven't yet.

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Chris O Posted: 5/30/2013 2:03pm PDT

Note that there is a fundamental difference between killing *an* electric car and killing *the* electric car.

Still it would be a pity if these well engineered cars were destined for the shredder after just a few years of use. The rugged lithium titanate battery should still have many years of life left in it. Maybe the next owner could modify it so it can take the extreme fastcharging this chemistry is theoretically capable off, but Honda couldn't be bothered to accommodate.

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Pat Posted: 5/31/2013 9:17am PDT

think in 3 years there will be a bunch of cheap Fit EV's for sale?
I could totally go for that.

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John Posted: 6/2/2013 4:56am PDT

@Pat: No. These cars are offered ONLY on 3-year leases.

At the end of 3 years, when they have allowed Honda to meet its zero-emission vehicle requirements imposed by the CA Air Resources Board, they will be taken out of service--and most likely destroyed.

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Pat Posted: 5/31/2013 9:20am PDT

260/month*12*3= 9360. Add in $1000 down. that's 10.5.
Add the 7500 fed tax credit. That's 18

Depreciate to zero. using advanced depreciation. That's 9K recaptured.

Hm.. Honda could sell these for a grand and make money.

I'd say this for a couple grand I wouldn't mind buying a used Fit EV.

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Mike Posted: 5/30/2013 7:33pm PDT

To answer Antony's question of "Does the new, lower lease cost and improved lease package move the Fit EV further up your electric car list?" - Yes, I test drove one tonight and signed the lease. :)

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Keith C. Posted: 5/31/2013 5:42am PDT

It'd be great if you'd post a review on the thread after a week or so. At this price they've got my attention and I would like to know realistic range, etc.

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wylie Posted: 5/31/2013 11:13am PDT

How can we convince Honda to expand to other states as well? If they did, they would be a game changer in these exiting times.

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Tom Posted: 6/1/2013 8:43am PDT

You can't. Honda made 1,100 Fit EV's for CARB compliance, not because they wanted to. After the 1,100 are leased they will not make more. They are only lowering the price now because after ten months, they only leased 161 of them and they HAVE to lease the rest of them. WIth the Fiat 500e and Chevy Spark EV out coming out soon with really inexpensive lease deals Honda HAD to do this or they would never lease them. This is a great deal on a really good little EV, but understand Honda is not doing this because they want to, they are doing it because they have no choice now. So take advantage of it if you can, it's really a fantastic deal IMHO.

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Edmund Posted: 6/1/2013 6:32pm PDT

GOOD luck Trying to find one of these cars. I live in LA and just called 3 different Honda Dealer 6/1/13 (first day of deal). Every single dealer has leased all their Fit EVs (between 6 to 8 of them). All dealers have a wait list of 9 to 21 people waiting to snap up this deal. For CA, we are basically being paid to drive this car with the $2500 state rebate and $1000 charger. TOO bad Honda is not offering more of these. I guess there will be a few more trickling into the dealers on a first come first served basis over the new month. I bet they fill all 1100 cars in the next month.

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Kenny Posted: 6/2/2013 11:17pm PDT

I feel pretty lucky reading your post Edmund. I live in Atwater, CA and am next on their list. Hopefully I can get one. Good luck.

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Kenny Posted: 6/2/2013 11:32pm PDT

I did not mention that the dealership is in Merced. Not sure if you are willing to travel that far to get one. You would probably need a trailer being so far away. There is a lot less demand here in the valley for EVs and you might be able to increase your chances of getting one. Anyway something to think about.

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Vox Esperance Posted: 6/8/2013 5:34am PDT

I ve been reading about EVs with interest and longing since the Volt debuted. They never made economic sense to me till now. When the new Honda Fit EV deal was announced, I crunched the numbers for me, and immediately began a search for one. Got it yesterday. This is a game changer. The final net cost (after gas, oil change and insurance savings) to me will be less than $100/mo). Consider, I own a beef cattle farm and was driving my Chevy S 10. Even I laughed!

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