21st Century Regenerative Technology

1. Daily Sprout
2. Lease It: Tesla Roadster For (a Minimum) $1,658 Per Month

Daily Sprout

2010-02-25 16:59

Katie Fehrenbacher - Misc

Solyndra Hooks Up With DC Power Systems: “Solyndra, Inc., a manufacturer of innovative cylindrical photovoltaic (PV) systems for commercial rooftops, announced it has signed a new North America distribution agreement with DC Power Systems, a full-service distributor of renewable energy products, headquartered in Rohnert Park, California.” — release.

Landfill Gas Into Energy: USA Today takes a look at the growing number of landfill projects that are capturing methane and turning it into energy. “[T]he number of landfill gas projects, which convert methane gas emitted from decomposing garbage into power, jumped from 399 in 2005 to 519 last year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.” — USA Today.

Nuclear power’s time has come: Why Stewart Brand, the founder and editor of the Whole Earth Catalog, now thinks nuclear is “vital to efforts to combat climate change.” — CNN.

The Beywatch Project: European researchers have created Beywatch, which stands for Building Energy Watcher, as a microgrid test project for a neighborhood. — Physorg.com.

Glenn Beck Possibly Cares About Planet, Anything?: Mother Jones looks at whether conservative pundit Glenn Beck is a closet environmentalist. — Mother Jones.

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Lease It: Tesla Roadster For (a Minimum) $1,658 Per Month

2010-02-25 16:00

Katie Fehrenbacher - Automotive

Here’s one way to help unprofitable electric vehicle startup Tesla move into the black: take its electric sports cars the Roadster and the Roadster Sport, which both cost over $100,000, and offer a leasing option. This morning the company, which filed for an S-1 last month, said it will be offering the Roadster and the Roadster Sport with “a three year, 30,000 mile contract and with monthly payments as low as $1,658.”

However, that’s the very basic of the fees interested parties can expect to pay. Tesla says considering a retail price of $111,005 for the car, the leasing customer needs to provide $12,453 due at signing, which includes $9,900 down payment and $895 for an acquisition fee. That also doesn’t include taxes, title, license, registration and “locally applied” fees. After the three-year lease period the Roadster customer can then buy the Roadster or decide to give it up and pay a $350 disposition fee, as well as fees for any wear and tear on the vehicle, and $0.25 per mile for miles driven beyond 30,000 miles over the life of the lease.

The concept of leasing electric vehicles isn’t new, though very few electric cars have been leased just because the EV market is so new. GM famously leased the EV1s (of “Who Killed the Electric Car?” movie fame) in the late nineties and then recalled them, much to the anger of many of the customers leasing the vehicles. And more recently large car makers have tried out leasing options of very small numbers of alternative cars.

But as more and more electric vehicles start to be leased to customers, as the Nissan LEAF and GM’s Volt are set to go on sale later this year and next year, it will be interesting to watch how the leasing business model works for electric cars in comparison to how it works for traditional cars. For example, after 7 years the battery pack for the Roadster is only able to hold 60 to 65 percent of its original charging ability (decreasing the vehicle's initial range). How will that affect, say, the “wear and tear” fees on a leased and returned Roadster after 3 years?

More leased EVs will also help provide data for how much used EVs are worth after their leased period (called residual value). I’m curious to know what a 3-year old leased Roadster would cost a customer to buy? As Josie pointed out recently, CAP Motor Research, one of the UK's biggest providers of vehicle valuation data for leasing companies, insurance firms, vehicle retail groups and financial institutions, found that it was basically impossible at this point to determine the residual value of electric vehicles because of so much uncertainty surrounding charging systems, overall running costs and especially the battery, generally the most expensive chunk of upcoming electric vehicles.

Also good to know that Tesla won’t be selling the current model of the Roadster after 2011, as it works on its next-generation EV the Model S, and doesn’t have plans to make a next-gen Roadster until at least one year after the Model S is available (by 2013). So if you’ve been dying for a Roadster but just can’t afford the flat-out purchase fee — better lease it while its still available.